
Qass_ 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



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Index 

Abraham Lincoln ....... i 

Andrew Johnson ....... 17 

Ulysses S. Grant . . . . . , . 19 

Rutherford B. Hayes ...... 23 

James A. Garfield ....... 25 

Chester A. Arthur ...... 31 

Grover Cleveland ....... 33 

Benjamin Harrison ...... 37 

William McKinley ....... 39 

Theodore Roosevelt ...... 63 

William H. Taft 65 

A Day in Washington's Country .... 77 



Introduction 

"The chief glory of every people arises from 
its authors." — Dr. Johnson. 

TO have known, or even to have seen, Abraham Lincoln and 
the Presidents of the United States who have presided over 
the destinies of the American people since his eventful time 
is a privilege and an experience that should be recorded, 
preserved and cherished as a rare inheritance for posterity. There is 
no more significant period in the history of the country than the years 
from 1861 to the present time. Within this period Lincoln's hope of 
national unity has been realized. When he took the oath of office Lincoln 
found a federation of states loosely bound together, struggling with 
problems that involved the very existence of the nation. The genius 
of his administration and the memory of his inspired life have settled 
for all time the question as to whether the states of the Union are to 
have vigorous national entity. With the solution of the questions oj 
slavery and secession and the establishment of a stable and permanent 
federal government came an industrial progress such as the world had 
not before exj^erienced. This marvelously rapid advance of the coun- 
try has given rise to new problems almost as serious in their import 
as those that Lincoln faced. The Presidents of the United States 
since 1861 have been statesmen competent, each in his turn, to deal 
with complex situations of world-wide importance. Happily for the 
people, when, in the march of events, the time came for the introduc- 
tion of this nation as a world power, William McKinley presided at 
Washington as their leader. Commander-in-chief of the Army and 
the Na\'y; and with the dignity and grace that characterized its chief- 
tain the country took its place among those nations that are powerful 
in the control of the destinies of the people of the earth. 

Anyone who has known the great Presidents since Buchanan, and 
has correctly interpreted their acts and motives, as has Mr. Butler, 



must have a well defined and correct appreciation of the meaning of 
the country's history for the past fifty years, for a nation's history is 
best told in the lives of its statesmen. The wide and varied experi- 
ence of Joseph G. Butler, Jr., his many warm friendships, his intimate 
relations with the great men of his time — especially the affectionate 
regard that McKinley had for him — enable him to make a record of 
the events and friendships of this eventful period that must have a 
great and perpetual value; and in so doing Mr. Butler has performed 
a patriotic service of great importance. 

MYRON T. HERRICK. 
Cleveland, Ohio, Dec. 12, 1910. 



This book is dedicated to my friends 



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Abraham Lincoln 1 860-1 865 

]Y FIRST knowledge of Lincoln was gained when I was 
a boy of eighteen years. My father was a subscriber to 
the New York Tribune, and it was our daily source of 
information and instruction. I remember reading of the 
"Lincoln and Douglas debates," which created a wide 
interest at the time. I think it was these debates which 
laid the foundation for Lincoln's subsequent nomination 
and election to the Presidency. 

The year following — 1859 — there was an important election in 
Ohio, and Lincoln, who was at that time a member of Congress, 
or had recently left Congress, came to help "stump" the state of 
Ohio. I do not believe that he got any nearer the section of the 
state where I lived than Columbus; but anyway, I remember that 
I was in that city at the time that he spoke. 

The next knowledge I had of him, was contained in a letter 
from my father, Joseph G. Butler, Sr., who was traveling in the 
west. He called on Lincoln at Springfield, 111., soon after his 
nomination for the Presidency; he was received with great cor- 
diality. His description of the way Lincoln was dressed corre- 
sponds exactly with that given by others. After father's return to 
the hotel, he wrote me a letter giving an account of the interview, 
which I preserved carefully for a great many years; but it was 
finally lost. I remember one clause well enough to reproduce it; 
it read: "Whatever may happen, slavery is doomed." This was 
father's individual opinion after talking with Lincoln. 

I next saw Lincoln in Cleveland, O., on February 15th, 1861; 
he was then en route to Washington to be inaugurated. He had 
made a speech at the Monongahela House, Pittsburgh, Pa., on the 
tariff question, the same morning. With two or three other boys — for 
I was not then of age— I went to Cleveland and out to the Euclid 
Avenue railroad station where Lincoln arrived. He was met by 
a citizens' committee and a great concourse of people. This public 
welcome was intended to be a non-political demonstration. There 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



was an open barouche drawn by four white horses. Lincoln wore 
the traditional stove-pipe hat and it was "stove-pipe" sure enough, 
as the fashion in those days was an absolutely straight, square crown, 
very tall. I'he procession formed and drove from the Euclid 
Avenue station to the Weddell House; it moved slowly. The 
weather was inclement and Lincoln kept his hat off most of the 
time, bowing to the by-standers. I walked and trotted all the way 
to the Weddell House and arrived there at the same time the 
President's carriage did. The President spoke from the second 
balcony of the old Weddell House; and I stood immediately under 
and heard him quite distinctly. He was dressed in a suit of clothes 
that looked as if it was not tailor-made, fitted loosely; and he, at 
that time, had a smooth face. 

The speech was short and is herein reproduced — or at least a 
part of it — taken from the Cleveland Herald of February i6th, 
1861: 

Mr. Chairman, and Fellow Citizens of Cleveland and Ohio: 

We have had a very inclement afternoon ; we have been marching in procession 
for about two miles, through snow, rain and deep mud. The large numbers 
that have turned out under these circumstances, testify that you are in earnest about 
something or other; but do I think so meanly of you as to suppose that earnestness 
is about me personally? (A voice — We all love you!) I should be doing you in- 
justice to suppose you did: You have assembled to testify your respect to the Union, 
the Constitution and the Laws; and here let me say, that it is with you, the people, 
to advance the great cause of the Union and the Constitution, and not with any 
one man. I repeat — it rests with you alone. This fact is strongly impressed on 
my mind at present. In a community like this, whose appearance — as I may say — 
whose very clothes, whose well built houses, whose numerous schools, and all the other 
evidences before me testify to their intelligence ; I am convinced that the cause of 
Liberty and the Union can never be in danger. 

Frequent allusion is made to the excitement at present existing in our National 
politics. It is well that I should also allude to it liere. I think there is no occasion 
for any excitement; the "crisis" as it is called, is altogether an artificial crisis. 
(Laughter.) 

In all parts of the Nation, there are differences of opinion on politics; there are 
differences of opinion even here. You did not all vote for the person who now 
addresses you. (Cries of — I did!) A large number of you did; enough for all 



Pf I- nil (-11 Is I 11 live Seen mid kno'^dii 



practical purposes, l)ut tint all of ynu. Fartlicr away tlicrr were fewer lliat voted 
for nie, and tlicir numbers decreased as they pot farther away. What is happening 
now will not iiurt those who arc fartlicr away from here; have they not all their rights 
as they ever have had; do they not have their fiij^itivc slaves returned now as ever; 
have they not the same Constitution tiiat they h.ive lived under for the last sevent)' 
odd years; have they not a position as citizens of this conuuon country; and have wc 
any power to ciianRc that position? (Cries of — No!) What then is the matter 
with them; why all this excitement; why all these complMints? As I said hefore, 
this crisis is all artificial; it has no foundation in fact. It was not argued up— as 
the saying is — and cannot, therefore, be ar^jued down. J^et it alone and it will go 
down of itself. ( Lauii;liter.) 

Mr. Lincoln said they must be content with hut a few more words from him. 
He was very much fatigued and had spoken so frecpiently that he was already hoarse. 
He thanked them for the cordial, the macnilicent receplioti they had i^iven him. Not 
less did he thank them for the votes they f^ave him last fall; and cpiite as m\ich he 
thanked them for the ellicient aid they had f^iven the cause which he represented, 
a cause which, he would say, was a good one. He had one more word to say; he 
was given to understand th.'it this reception was teiulereil not oidy by his own party 
supporters, but by men of all parties, saying: 

This is as it should he. H Judge Dfjuglas had been elecK^l and had been 
here on liis way to Washington, as I am tonight, the Republicans should have 
joined his supporters in welcoming iiim, just as his friends have joined with mine to- 
night. H all don't join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage, 
nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage. 

He concluded by thanking all present for the devotion they had shown to the 
cause of the Union. 

At the close of the speech Mr. Lincoln was presented with several splendid 
boquets and floral wreaths. An immense cheer for Lincoln and the Union w;is sent 
up by the crowd, and the reception was over. 

It miglu not l^c out of place to reproduce tlie following edi- 
torial from the Cleveland llertild of J'^ebruary i6tli, 1H61, the d;iy 
following the reception noteil above, under the iieading "The 
President-Elect": 

Mr. Lincoln's reception in Cleveland was all that our citizens could ask. The 
weather was bad and the streets were in very bad condition, but — everything con- 
sidered — from Mr. Lincoln's ingress to his egress, the affair was creditable to the 
city and to those who had the pageant in charge. Party feeling was buried, and 
Democrats seemed as anxious to do honor to the President-elect as did those who 
cast their votes for him. 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



In looking over the route pursued hitherto by Mr. Lincoln certain features 
stand prominent. His farewell to his relatives, neighbors and lifelong friends at 
Springfield was in touching simplicity and beauty, a goodby that came from one 
heart and settled, without diminution, into five thousand hearts. It was a "God 
bless you," with a prayer that the benison might be returned to him. 

At Cleveland, Mr. Lincoln in brief, treated of the political difficulties; re- 
ferred to the execution of the laws, even the fugitive law, and argued thence that 
there was no cause of complaint ; that the laws and the Constitution were obeyed 
as they always have been, and that the present crisis is artificial — and must burn 
out by its own fires. 

Mr. Lincoln — as he said at Columbus and at Pittsburgh — does not intend to 
designate in these off-hand addresses any line of policy for his administration ; it 
would not be proper he thinks; and so do all think who are friendly to him. That 
will be reserved for his deliberate manifesto after having received the oath of office. 
But we make these running remarks only to point out the shadows of sentiments 
from which we have right to infer that Mr. Lincoln will firmly execute the laws; 
that he sets his face sternly against any interference with the rights of the slave 
states; favors American industn,'; condemns presidential interference with legislation, 
out of which grow such abuses of power; and thoroughly believes in devotion to the 
Union as it is, the Constitution and the laws. 

I remember several things that Lincoln said at Cleveland that 
were not reproduced in the above published extract from the ad- 
dress. In speaking of the turbulence then prevalent throughout 
portions of the South, I remember distinctly his saying these words: 
"It may be necessary to put the foot down firmly," and he stamped 
one foot at the same time. These few words, as he spoke them, 
created immense enthusiasm. 

Lincoln was very tired, and although I was admitted into the 
hotel, I only got a further glimpse of him. There was no reception 
held, but the people were presenting flowers and bouquets. He 
was pretty well worn out and retired to his room. He remained in 
Cleveland over night, speaking at Bufifalo the following morning. 

On April i6th, 1865, I was at Titusville, Pa., on a little business 
trip and quite early in the morning the news came that Lincoln had 
been shot and was dead. This was, of course, a great shock and 
everybody was full of it. 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 5 

At that time I was accustomed to attend church every Sun- 
day, no matter where I might happen to be, and with Mr. G. B. 
Simonds and one or two other friends whose names I do not re- 
member, I went to hear a sermon. We all naturally supposed that 
reference would be made to the great tragedy, but the preacher, 
after the hymns were sung, gave out his text, preached for a full 
hour, and never mentioned Lincoln's name or said anything what- 
ever with reference to the great disaster which, had come upon the 
country. Our faces were blank with amazement, and when we got 
outside we held an impromptu "indignation meeting," and ex- 
pressed our views in regard to the preacher. We learned afterward 
that he was a northern "copper-head." 

I did not see Lincoln again until his remains were brought 
through Cleveland and exposed in the park, in April, 1865. It 
was a sorry sight. The features could scarcely be distinguished and 
were blackened and almost unrecognizable. 

Lincoln's Cabinet Signatures 

The way I came into possession of the paper containing the 
signatures of President Lincoln and his cabinet reproduced on 
another page was interesting. The United States Sanitary Commis- 
sion was organized by patriotic people as soon as the country 
realized that the war would not end in a hurry. The object of the 
Commission was to aid the soldiers on the firing line in every 
way, but especially when sick or wounded. The Commission held 
fairs in every loyal portion of the country, and in 1864 while 
attending the Commission's great fair in Cleveland I ran across 
the sheet of paper containing the original autograph signatures 
given herewith. I lost no time purchasing it, and today I do not 
know of another like copy or whether other copies were made, 
and disposed of similarly. These fairs proved not only instructive 
to the people in general, but they also aroused the patriotism of all, 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



since they gave the opportunity to women, children and non-com- 
batants generally to do something for the cause so close to the 
hearts of all except those of "copper-heads." 

In addition to my personal recollections, I think it not out of 
place to reproduce in this brief volume Lincoln's address at Gettys- 
burg; his Pittsburgh Tarifif Speech; President Roosevelt's Cen- 
tennial Address; Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixley; and one or more 
additional items of interest. 

Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg 

Delivered November 19^ 1863 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent 
a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that 
nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met 
on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field 
as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might 
live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger 
sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The 
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our 
poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what 
we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, 
rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have 
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly 
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall 
have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for 
the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

Abraham Lincoln by Theodore Roosevelt 

An address delivered by the President of the United States at Lincoln's birth- 
place February 12, 1909 

We have met here to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of one 
of the two greatest Americans; of one of the two or three greatest men of the nine- 
teenth century; of one of the greatest men in the world's history. This rail-splitter, 
this boy who passed his ungainly youth in the dire poverty of the poorest of the frontier 
folk, whose rise was by weary and painful labor, lived to lead his people through 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



the burning flames of a struggle from which the nation emerged, purified as by fire, 
born anew to a loftier h'fe. After long years of iron effort, and of failure that 
came more often than victory he at last rose to the leadership of the Republic, at the 
moment when that leadership had become the stupendous world-task of the time. 
He grew to know greatness, but never ease. Success came to him, but never hap- 
piness save that which springs from doing well a painful and a vital task. Power was 
his, but not pleasure. The furrows deepened on his brow, but his eyes were un- 
dimmed by either hate or fear. His gaunt shoulders were bowed, but his steel tiiews 
never faltered as he bore for a burden the destinies of his people. His great and 
tender heart shrank from giving pain ; and the task allotted to him was to pour out 
like water the life-blood of the young men, and to feel in his evcr>' fiber the sorrow 
of the women. Disaster saddened but never dismayed him. As the red years of 
war went by, they found him ever doing his duty in the present, ever facing the 
future with fearless front, high of heart and dauntless of soul. Unbroken by hatred, 
unshaken by scorn, he worked and suffered for the people. Triumph was his at 
the last; and barely had he tasted it before murder found him, and the kindly, patient, 
fearless eyes were closed forever. 

As a people we are indeed beyond measure fortunate in the characters of the 
two greatest of our public men, Washington and Lincoln. Widely though they 
differed in e.xternals, the Virginia landed gentleman and the Kentucky backwoodsman, 
they were alike in essentials, they were alike in the great qualities which made each 
able to do service to his nation and to all mankind such as no other man of his genera- 
tion could or did render. Each had lofty ideals, but each in striving to attain these 
lofty ideals was guided by the soundest common sense. Each possessed inflexible 
courage in adversity and a soul wholly unspoiled by prosperity. Each possessed all 
the gentler virtues commonly exhibited by good men who lack rugged strength of 
character. Each possessed also ail the strong qualities commonly exhibited by those 
towering masters of mankind who have too often shown themselves devoid of so much 
as the understanding of the words by which we signify the qualities of duty, of mercy, 
of devotion to the right, of lofty disinterestedness in battling for the good of others. 
There have been other men as great and other men as good ; but in all the 
history of mankind there are no other two great men as good as these, no other two 
good men as great. Widely though the problems of today differ from the problems- 
set for solution to Washington when he founded this nation, to Lincoln when he 
saved it and freed the slave, yet the qualities they showed in meeting these problems 
are exactly the same as those we should show in doing our work today. 

Lincoln saw into the future with the prophetic imagination usually vouchsafed 
only to the poet and the seer. He had in him all the lift toward greatness of the 
visionary, without any of the visionary's fanaticism or egotism, without any of the 
visionary's narrow jealousy of the practical man and inability to strive in practical 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



fashion for the realization of an ideal. He had the practical man's hard common 
sense and willingness to adapt means to ends; but there was in him none of that 
morbid growth of mind and soul which blinds so many practical men to the higher 
things of life. No more practical man ever lived than this homely backwoods idealist; 
but he had nothing in common with those practical men whose consciences are warped 
until they fail to distinguish between good and evil, fail to understand that strength, 
ability, shrewdness, whether in the world of business or of politics, only serve to 
make their possessor a more noxious, a more evil, member of the community, if they 
are not guided and controlled by a fine and high moral sense. 

We of this day must try to solve many social and industrial problems, requiring 
to an especial degree the combination of indomitable resolution with cool-headed 
sanity. We can profit by the way in which Lincoln used both of these traits as he 
strove for reform. We can learn much of value from the very attacks which follow- 
ing that course brought upon his head, attacks alike by the extremists of revolution 
and by the extremists of reaction. He never wavered in devotion to his principles, 
in his love for the Union, and in his abhorrence of slavery. Timid and lukewarm 
people were always denouncing him because he was too extreme ; but as a matter of 
fact he never went to extremes, he worked step by step ; and because of this, the ex- 
tremists hated and denounced him with a fervor which now seems to us fantastic in 
its deification of the unreal and the impossible. At the very time when one side was 
holding him up as the apostle of social revolution because he was against slavery, 
the leading abolitionists denounced him as the "slave hound of Illinois." When he 
was the second time candidate for President, the majority of his opponents attacked 
him because of what they termed his extreme radicalism, while a minority threatened 
to bolt his nomination because he was not radical enough. He had continually to 
check those who wished to go forward too fast, at the very time that he overrode 
the opposition of those who wished not to go forward at all. The goal was never 
dim before his vision ; but he picked his way cautiously, without either halt or hurry, 
as he strode toward it, through such a morass of difficulty that no man of less cour- 
age would have attempted it, while it would surely have overwhelmed any man of 
judgment less serene. 

Yet perhaps the most wonderful thing of all, and, from the standpoint of the 
America of to-day and of the future, the most vitally important, was the extraordinary 
way in which Lincoln could fight valiantly against what he deemed wrong and yet 
preserve undiminished his love and respect for the brother from whom he differed. 
In the hour of a triumph that would have turned any weaker man's head, in the heat 
of a struggle which spurred many a good man to dreadful vindictiveness, he said 
truthfully that so long as he had been in his office he had never willingly planted a 
thorn in any man's bosom, and besought his supporters to study the incidents of the 
trial through which they were passing as philosophy from which to learn wisdom 



Pri'siJrnts I Have Seen and Knoicn 



and not as wronjTS to be avenged ; ending with the solemn exhortation that, as the 
strife was over, all should reunite in a common effort to save their common country. 

He lived in days that were great and terrible, when brother fought against 
brother for what each sincerely deemed to be the right. In a contest so grim the 
strong men who alone can carry it through are rarely able to do justice to the deep 
convictions of those with whom they grapple in mortal strife. At such times men 
see through a glass darkly; to only the rarest and loftiest spirits is vouchsafed that 
clear vision which gradually comes to all, even to the lesser, as the struggle fades 
into distance, and wounds are forgotten and peace creeps back to the hearts that were 
hurt. But to Lincoln was given this supreme vision. He did not hate the man 
from whom he differed. Weakness was as foreign as wickedness to his strong, gentle 
nature; but his courage was of a quality so high that it needed no bolstering of dark 
passion. He saw clearly that the same high qualities, the same courage and willing- 
ness for self-sacrifice and devotion to the right as it was given them to see the right, 
belonged both to the men of the North and to the men of the South. 

As the years roll by, and as all of us, wherever we dwell, grow to feel an equal 
pride in the valor and self-devotion alike of the men who wore the blue and the men 
who wore the gray, so this whole nation will grow to feel a peculiar sense of pride 
in the mightiest of the mighty men who mastered the mighty days; the lover of his 
country and of all mankind ; the man whose blood was shed for the Union of his people 
and for the freedom of a race, Abraham Lincoln. 

Tariff Speech by Abraham Lincoln 

Delivered by the President-elect from the balcony of the Monongahela House, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., on February 15, 1861 

Fellow Citizens: 

As this is the first oppnrtimity which I have had to address a Pennsylvania asr 
semblage it seems a fitting time to indulge in a few remarks upon the important 
question of a tariff" — a subject of great magnitude and one which is attended with many 
difKculties, owing to the great variety of interests which it involves. So long as direct 
taxation for the support of the government is not resorted to, a tariff is necessary. 
The tariff" is to the government what meat is to the family. But while this is ad- 
mitted, it still becomes necessary to modify and change its operations according to new 
interests and new circumstances. So far there is little difference of opinion among 
politicians, but the question as to how far imports may be adjusted for the protection 
of home industry gives rise to numerous views and objections. I must confess that 
I do not understand this subject in all its multiform bearings, but I promise you that 
I will give it my closest attention, and endeavor to comprehend it more fully; and 
here I may remark that the Chicago platform contains a plank upon this subject 
which I think should be regarded as a law for the incoming administration. (Im- 



lo Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



mense demonstrations of applause.) In fact, this question as well as all other subjects 
embodied in that platform should not be varied from what we gave the people to 
understand would be our policy when we obtained their votes. (Continued applause.) 
Permit me, fellow citizens, to read the tariff plank of the Chicago platform, or 
rather, have it read in your hearing by one who has younger eyes. 

Mr. Lincoln's private secretary then read section 12 of the Chicago platform, 
as follows: 

That while providing revenue for the support of the general government by 
duties on imports, sound policy required such an adjustment of these imports as to 
encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country, and we 
commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the working man liberal 
wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate 
reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity 
and independence. 

Mr. Lincoln continued: 
Now, fellow citizens, I must confess that there were shades of difference in 
constructing even this platform ; but I am not now intending to discuss these differ- 
ences, but merely to give you some general ideas upon this subject. I have long 
thought that if there be any article of necessity which can be produced at home with 
as little, or nearly the same labor as abroad, it would be better to protect that article. 
Labor is the true standard of value. If a bar of iron got out of the mines of England 
and a bar of iron taken from the mines of Pennsylvania, be produced at the same cost, 
it follows that if the English bar be shipped from Manchester to Pittsburgh, and the 
American bar from Pittsburgh to Manchester, the cost of carriage is appreciably lost. 
(Laughter.) If we had no iron here, then we should encourage its shipment from 
foreign countries, but not when we can make it as clieaply in our own country. This 
brings us back to our first proposition ; that if any article can be produced at home with 
nearly the same cost as abroad, the carriage is lost labor. The treasury of the nation 
is in such a low condition at present, that this subject now demands the attention of 
Congress and will demand the immediate consideration of the new administration. 

The tariff bill now before Congress may or may not pass at the present session. 
I confess I do not understand the precise provisions of this bill, and I do not know 
whether it can be passed by the present Congress or not. It may or may not become 
the law of the land ; but if it does, that will be an end of the matter until a modifica- 
tion can be effected, should it become necessary. If it does not pass and the latest 
advices I have are to the effect that it is still pending, the next Congress will have to 
give it their earliest attention. According to my political education, I am inclined 
to believe that the people in various sections of this country should have their own 
views carried out through their representatives in Congress and if the consideration of 
the tariff bill should be postponed until the next session of the national legislature, no 



Prea'ulcuts I Have Seen and Knoun it 

subject should engage your representatives more closely than that of a tariff, and if 
I have any recommendations to make, it will be that every man who is called upon 
to serve the people In a representative capacity should study this whole subject thor- 
oughly, as I intend to myself. 

Looking to all the varied interests of our common country, so that when the 
time for action arrives, adequate protection can be extended to the coal and iron of 
Pennsylvania, tlie corn of Illinois and the reapers of Chicago, permit me to express 
the hope that this important subject may receive such consideration at the hands of 
your representatives, that the interests of no part of the country' may be overlooked, 
but that all sections may share in common the benefits of a just and equitable tarifif. 

The Boyhood of Lincoln 

The early life of Lincoln gives no suggestion of his subsequent prominence. His 
parents were among the poorest of the settlers of a sterile section of the state of Ken- 
tucky; it was necessary for them to work hard and live cheaply; their children had to 
do the same. 

During his boyhood Abraham Lincoln was very popular ainong the simple, 
hard-working pioneers. He had a kind heart and could sympathize with anyone in 
trouble, even with beasts and birds. He was intolerant of any injustice, and was a 
true knight although he wore blue-jean trousers. This sympathy for others grew. 
Once he heard some birds uttering plaintive sounds and discovered that a birdling 
had fallen from its nest; although in great haste, he took time to climb the tree and 
replace the bird. Similar incidents of his gentle nature are numerous and show why he 
was so popular as a boy, and in later years became a most popular man. Robert Burns 
was a popular boy. Why? Read his " Lines to a Meadow Mouse" which he had 
accidentally ploughed out of the ground. Henry Havelock was a popular boy. Why? 
Because he was chivalrous. He led boys at school in the same high spirit as he after- 
ward led the English army in India. 

Lincoln although powerful in mind and body, attended school less than one 
year during his entire life. He had not time. He had to add the pittance earned 
by his strong, young arms to family living, which was poor enough even then. Yet 
with this slight education as a beginning, he continued to grow in strength and wisdom. 
He studied at night, having no other time, figuring on the backs of wooden shov- 
els, slabs and boards, with charcoal, having no other light than that of a flickering 
fire in the old-fashioned fire-place. Perhaps it was the memory of his own neglected 
childhood that in later years made him so kind and considerate of those about him. 
Even the lowest of animals called forth his tender sympathy. Through myriad trials 
and disappointments, onward and upward from lowliest childhood to leadership of a 
great and powerful Nation, his entire life says: "Courage, courage," to every boy and 
girl. 



12 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



When Abraham Lincoln was eight years of age his father moved to the state 
of Indiana, and in this new home the little boy, who was afterward to become the 
leading citizen of the Nation, slept for months upon a hard mud floor. Skins of 
animals were hung at the doors and over the windows, and these v/ere the only 
protection from the cold winter winds. 

The days of young Lincoln in Indiana were spent in hard work when it was 
to be had. He was a poor boy looking out for a job, and anything that earned an 
honest living was good enough for him. He pulled corn for the neighbors, he split 
rails the same as hundreds of other boys; ran a flatboat about three months for a 
neighbor. No one in that section of the country at that time imagined that young 
Lincoln would make his mark some day; but after he became President of the United 
States, you couldn't find a man in Spencer county who hadn't eaten mush out of the 
same pot and with the same spoon as "Abe" Lincoln. 

When he was nine years of age, he had the misfortune to lose his good mother 
by death, which was his first great sorrow. Lincoln was tenderly devoted to his 
mother. Whatever was bright in the earlier life of Lincoln came to him through 
his mother. She read the Bible to him and of this book in after years he said : "In re- 
gard to the great Book, I have only to say that it is the best gift that God has given 
man. All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this 
Book. But for this Book, we could not know right from wrong." Lincoln said 
once: "All I have and am I owe to my mother." 

Happily for the two Lincoln children, their father's second choice of a wife 
fell upon Mrs. Sallie Johnson, a widow, who brought brightness and comfort with her 
into the humble home. She came as an angel of light to the two motherless children, 
and her coming was attended by rays of real sunshine which entered into their young 
lives. 

Abraham Lincoln earned his first dollar when about eighteen years of age, by 
taking two men and their trunks by boat out to a steamer in the Mississippi river, for 
w-hich they gave him a silver half dollar each. Mr. Lincoln afterward said: "I could 
scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. It was a most important incident 
in my life. I could scarcely believe that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than 
a day — that by honest work, I had earned a dollar. The world seemed wider and 
fairer before me. I was a more hopeful and confident being from that time." 

The Lincoln family bade adieu to their Indiana home in 1830 and started on 
a two weeks' journey across great hills, swamps and through dense forests, until they 
reached a spot on the Sangamon river, in the state of Illinois. Here a log cabin was 
built, and Lincoln then split the rails that afterward enclosed and surrounded the 
cabin and ten acres of ground. A little later he became of age and left this home to 
go forth into the world and battle for himself. His rail-splitting days were drawing 
to a close, and the larger duties of life began to open before him. 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoirn \^ 



Brief Sketch of the Life of Abraham Lincoln 

Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, fatlier and mother of Abraham Lincohi, 
were married on the I2th day of June, 1806, near Beechland, Ky. They lived in a 
small house at Elizabethtown, and in 1807 a daughter was born to them who was 
called Sarah. 

The next year they removed to a small farm, situated on the Big South Fork of 
Nolin creek, in what was at that time Hardin and is now LaRue county, three miles 
from Hodgensville, and it was in this solitary cabin that stood in a desolate spot on this 
farm that Abraham Lincoln was born on the 12th day of February, 1809. Four 
years later another move was made to a place more picturesque and of far greater 
fertility. It was located six miles from Hodgensville, on Knob creek, which flowed 
into the Rolling Fork. In 1816 Thomas Lincoln finally determined to emigrate, so 
made the journey through an almost untrodden wilderness, reaching a point about a 
mile and a half east of the village of Gentryville, Indiana. After living in a "half- 
faced camp," a cabin enclosed on three sides and open on the fourth, they deserted 
this poor excuse for a cabin, for one of rough logs. In the year 181 8 a mysterious 
disease, called by some "milk sickness," swept away many of the cattle which had 
furnished the ncccssarj' milk, as well as many of the people who had dnank it. 
Among these was Nancy Hanks Lincoln, which left Abraham and his sister mother- 
less. Thirteen months later Thomas Lincoln went to Elizabethtown, where he mar- 
ried Sally Bush Johnson, who had rejected him before his marriage to Nancy Hanks. 
This new mother brought into the cabin a goodly supply of household goods, and 
the two children were soon snugly nestled in the warm beds for the first time in their 
lives. 

Abraham's sister was married at the age of eighteen years, and died one year 
later. In the spring of 1830, the Lincoln family removed to Illinois and settled 
near Decatur in that state. 

Abraham Lincoln, who had at this time reached the age of twenty-one years, 
arrived at the conclusion that it was about time for him to start in life on his own 
account. It cost him much sorrow, however, to be compelled to leave his good 
step-mother, who had proved herself a true mother to him. In the spring of 1831 
Lincoln, with the aid of John Hanks and John Johnson, constructed a flatboat 
for Denton Offut, who loaded it with barrels of pork, hogs and a quantity of corn, 
which cargo the three men rafted down the Sangamon river to its junction with the 
Illinois river; down the latter stream to its junction with the Mississippi, until reach- 
ing New Orleans, La. For this service the men were to receive 50 cents per day 
while on the trip and $20 each upon arrival at their destination. This was the second 
trip of the kind that Lincoln had made, and Offut was glad to secure his services 
at this time. Later Lincoln located at New Salem, a small village about twenty-five 
miles north of Springfield, 111., where he gained some renown as captain of a com- 



14 Presiflents I Have Seen and Known 

pany during the Blackhawk War in 1832, after which experience he was appointed 
postmaster, still later becoming a surveyor, and afterward a general storekeeper. 

In the latter part of that year he was defeated as a candidate for the Illinois 
state legislature by Peter Cartwright, a prominent Methodist pioneer preacher, who 
was a Democrat. However, in the year 1843, Lincoln was elected to this office and 
re-elected for three successive terms thereafter. While living at Salem, Lincoln 
made a number of trips afoot to Springfield in order to borrow law books, which 
were kindly loaned him by John T. Stuart. After his removal to Springfield in 1837, 
he was admitted to the bar, and the same year became associated with Mr. Stuart in 
the practice of law, which relations continued until the 14th day of April, 1841. 

He was afterward associated with Stephen T. Logan until 1845, and soon after- 
ward formed a co-partnership with William H. Herndon, which was only terminated 
by the death of Mr. Lincoln. 

On the 4th day of November, 1842, Abraham Lincoln was united in marriage 
to Miss Mary Todd, of Kentucky. There were born to them four sons — Robert T., 
born August ist, 1843; Edward Baker, born March loth, 1846, died Februar>' 1st, 
1850; William Wallace,, born December 21st, 1850, died at the White House, 
Washington, D. C, February 20th, 1862; Thomas ("Tad"), born April 4th, 1853, 
died at the Clifton House, Chicago, Ills., July 15, 1871. 

Mrs. Lincoln died at the home of her sister, Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, at 
Springfield, 111., on the 1 6th day of July, 1882. The only surviving son of Abraham 
Lincoln is Robert T., who resides at Chicago, 111., and is president of the Pullman 
Company. 

In the year 1846 Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress — Peter Cartwright, 
who had defeated him for the legislature in 1832, being his competitor before the 
people for election. At the close of his term in Congress Mr. Lincoln resumed the 
practice of law. His love for justice and fair play was the predominating trait in 
his character. It was not in his nature to assume or to bolster up a false position. 
He would abandon his case first. Probably the happiest portion of Abraham Lin- 
coln's life was in traveling over his circuit, which comprised fourteen counties. He, 
with other lawyers, traveled over this territory twice every year, and it was during 
these pilgrimages that he "cracked'' his jokes, told his famous stories, met the 
people and was heartily greeted by them. 

When Mr. Lincoln first began to "ride the circuit," he was too poor to own 
a horse, and was compelled to borrow from his friends, but in due time he became the 
owner of a horse which he fed and groomed himself. On this horse he would set 
out from home to be gone for weeks at a time, with no other baggage than a pair of 
saddle bags containing a change of linen. The lawyers were at all times glad to see 
him. 



Presidents I Have Seen nnd Known T5 



In his debates with Stephen A. Douglas in 1858, Mr. I.incohi canieil an en- 
viable reputation as a popular debater which was never denied. In connection with 
his speech before Cooper Institute, New York City, on February 27tb, i860, the 
New York Tribune said: "The tones, the gestures, the kindling eye and the mirth- 
provoking look, defy the reporters' skill. No man ever before made so deep an im- 
pression upon his first appeal to a New York audience." Mr. Lincoln closed his 
speech with these words: "Let us have faith that riglit makes might, and, in that 
faith, let us dare to do our duty as we understand it." 

He awoke the next morning to find himself famous. That speech prepared 
the way for his nomination as President of the United States, which came to him on 
the 18th day of May, i860, and to which great oflice he was triumphantly elected on 
the 6th day of November of that year. 

On the nth day of February, 1861, with his family and a number of personal 
friends, Abraham Lincoln left his home at Springfield for Washington, D. C, there 
to preside over the destinies of a great Nation, during years fraught with tremendous 
importance to the Ship of State. There were most pathetic scenes at the station when 
he bade "good bye" to his friends and neighbors. He fully realized the many 
difficulties and dangers confronting him when he said: "And I hope that you, my 
friends, wnll all pray that I may receive that divine assistance without which I cannot 
succeed, but with which success is certain." As always he was sustained by his trust 
in God and by the prayers of the people which he had thus solicited. 

On his journey to Washington he was everywhere received with demonstrations 
of loyalty such as had seldom before been displayed to man. He addressed the as- 
sembled populace at the capital cities of the states of Ohio, New York, New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania, and at many of the chief inland towns and villages. His speech 
at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, was most eloquent and impressive, and was de- 
livered on the 22nd day of February. He arrived at Washington on the succeeding 
day and was inaugurated President of the United States on the 4th day of March, 
1861. He was serving his second term of four years when he was shot in Ford's 
Theater, Washington, by John Wilkes Booth, on the night of the 14th day of April, 
1865. He was carried across the street to the Petersen home. No. 516 Tenth street, 
where he died at twenty-two minutes after 7 o'clock the succeeding morning. 

The body of the martyr President was borne to the Wliite House, and, after 
lying in state in the East room and later at the Capitol, was taken from Wasiiington, 
on the 2ist day of April, 1865, stopping at eight places enroute and finally arriving 
at Springfield, 111., on the 3rd day of May, 1865. 

On the following day the funeral ceremonies were conducted at Oak Ridge 
cemetery, and there the remains of the martyr were laid at rest. 

Nothing should be omitted or neglected to perpetuate his fame and memory 
and to keep his name ever before succeeding generations of his countrjmen. Many of 
his utterances have become classics, and the unstudied oration at Gettysburg, Novem- 



1 6 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



ber igth, 1863, has been translated into all the civilized languages as an enduring 
example of pure diction and exalted patriotism. 

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right 
as God gives us to see the right," this mighty force moved serenely toward fame's 
pinnacle, himself unconscious of his growing greatness. The little lad with his 
charcoal and pine slabs learned by his pine-knot fire that endurance, patience and 
fortitude which in maturity expanded into the mighty man, LINCOLN. 

Abraham Lincoln 

Original poem by Tom J. NicoU, of Youngstown, O., and now 
residing in Chicago, 111. 

Of lowly birth, and reared in want, 

A massive frame so tall and gaunt, 

A face tho' homely, kind and true, 

Not college bred, his books were few. 

An honest heart, a master mind, 

A friend indeed to all mankind. 

No malice in his soul had he 

So like the Christ of Galilee, 

A man of God who dared do right, 

A gladiator in his might. 

He broke the chains of Slavery 

And set four million bondmen free — 

The fight he fought was not in vain, 

Today the world reveres his name. 

Lincoln's Letter to Mrs. Bixley 

EXECUTIVE MANSION 

To Mrs. Bixley, Washington, D. C, November 21st, 1864. 

Boston, Mass. 
Dear Madam : — 

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the adju- 
tant general of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died 
gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of 
mine which would attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming; 
but I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the 
thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may as- 
suage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of 
the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a 
sacrifice on the altar of freedom. 

Yours verj- sincerely and respectfully, (Signed) A. LINCOLN. 

Born in a remote country, but self-educated, by the fire of winter nights after 
days of strenuous toil, and whose career socially, legally and politically was one of 
never-ending hardship and struggle; saw clear into the core of the Nation's troubles 
and guided the Ship of State and its armed forces by land and sea to the triumphant 
proof of his superior sagacity. — Anonymous. 




^^y^h^A^j--^^ t:::/^^***^<^f^ 



Andrew Johnson 1 865-1 868 

INDREW JOHNSON became President after the tragic 
death of Lincoln, by reason of his being the then Vice- 
President, and a sorry spectacle he made of himself, and 
a poor, miserable President he turned out to be. History 
records his management of afifairs during the great crisis 
following the death of Lincoln and during the com- 
mencement of the "reconstruction" period. 
The first and only time I ever saw Andrew Johnson was at 
the Kennard House in Cleveland, when he was "swinging around 
the circle." He made a speech from the balcony of the hotel. As 
soon as the speech was finished I hastened into the parlor in order 
to get a good view of him. I saw the President, arm in arm with 
Secretary Seward. Johnson was intoxicated and had to be helped 
to a seat. I was sick at heart, felt humiliated and left the scene. 





Ulysses S. Grant 1 868-1 876 

ENERAL GRANT was elected President two successive 
terms. I saw him first in Chicago at a reception and in 
a parade. This was soon after the surrender to him of 
Fort Donelson. I next saw him at the old Astor House 
^^ in New York. Both of these occasions were before he 
"^ was elected President. I think when I met him at the 
^^^^^^^^ Astor House was in 1863. I was sitting at breakfast — 
on "the American plan" — and had just begun the meal, when a 
quiet-looking gentleman with a sandy beard, was shown a seat right 
opposite. 1 did not at first recognize him, but a second glance 
showed me that he was General Grant. He looked up and smiled 
and we passed a few common-place remarks, but I was so over- 
whelmed — as I might say — that I did not pursue the conversation. 
I think from what I now know of his democratic tendencies, it 
would have been all right for me to have introduced myself and 
talked to him, but I refrained from doing so. Subsequently, along 
in the 8o's, I became quite well acquainted with the Grant family 
in New York, and spent frequent evenings at the house. This 
was after the death of General Grant. I met Colonel Fred 
Grant, and in fact, all the sons, and was connected in a busi- 
ness enterprise with. Mr. Jesse Grant. I remember when Nellie 
Grant — who married the Englishman Sartoris — sailed, I went 
with other friends to the boat and saw her off, and presented her 
with some flowers. I have met the sons on several occasions since. 
U. S. Grant, Jr., otherwise known as "Buck" Grant, was a delegate 
to the Philadelphia convention in 1900, when McKinley and Roose- 
velt were nominated. 

General Grant was a man of few words, but what he said 
bore the stamp of plain courage and stability. There was no misun- 
derstanding his language. Two of his epigrammatic sayings will 
endure as long as American history. The first was used by him in 
his letter of acceptance of his first nomination to the Presidency 
in 1868, following the turmoil and bitter strife that had culminated 
in the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson, and 



20 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

was: "Let us have peace." The second appeared in an order issued 
hy President Grant in 1875 ordering the active prosecution of the 
gigantic and infamous "ring," formed for the purpose of defrauding 
the Government through the medium of the internal revenue. That 
order closed with, these words: "Let no guilty man escape." 

While attending an army reunion at Des Moines, la. in 
September, 1875, General Grant in a speech touched upon educa- 
tion, a subject of vital importance to the American people, and 
in his usual unequivocal manner said: 

Let us labor for the security of free thought, free speech, free press, pure morals, 
unfettered religious fentiments and equal rights and privileges for all men, irrespective 
of nationality, color, or religion ; encourage free schools, resolve that not one dollar 
appropriated to them shall go to the support of any sectarian school; resolve that neither 
state nor nation shall support any institution save those where every child may get a 
common school education, unmixed with any atheistic, pagan or sectarian teaching; 
leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, and keep church and state 
forever separate. 

General Grant was thoroughly honest, but to a great extent the 
unwitting victim of designing politicians. He was a better soldier 
than a statesman. He was surely one of the great generals of the 
world, if not the greatest. 

The first President to retire from this great office and make 
a tour of the Old World was General Grant, and it was a tre- 
mendous success not only for himself but also for his country. 
In May, 1877, General Grant with Mrs. Grant and one of his sons 
sailed from Philadelphia, an immense crowd gathering to witness 
his departure. Wherever he went in England or on the Continent, 
in India, China, Japan, and Mexico, he was received by both 
princes and people with every evidence of the utmost respect. In 
England he was received by Queen Victoria and the then Prince 
of Wales and was presented the freedom of London and other great 
cities; in Germany he met Prince Bismarck, Count von Moltke 
and other distinguished men; he cruised through the Mediterranean 
in a United States man-of-war; from Bombay to Calcutta his 
progress resembled that of royalty; at Peking he was received by 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoun 



Prince Rung and became a lifelong friend of Li Hung Chang; he 
was the guest of the Mikado in Japan; and after he landed at San 
Francisco in September his progress eastward was marked by an 
almost continued demonstration. It was altogether a most remark- 
able testimonial on the part of the New World and of the Old 
to the singular worth of this great American. 




/iiXj^/^^H^-^t-a^nj: 1^ • 5. z^^^^^,*--^ 




James A. Garfield 1 880-1881 

jY FIRST knowledge of General Garfield was gained 
when I was a boy at Nilcs, O. He came down and 
preached sermons occasionally at the old "Campbellite 
church" as it was then called. The church was organ- 
ized by Alexander Campbell, and was a "power in the 
land" at the time spoken of. 

Garfield lived at Hiram, and the Mason boys of 
Niles, who were friends of mine, were students there, and when 
visiting them, I would see Garfield. I became very well ac- 
quainted with him in subsequent years, and was at the convention 
which nominated him for President in 1880. He was more bril- 
liant than able. When he passed through on his way to Washing- 
ton, he came by way of Youngstown, and I happened to be on 
the same train from Cleveland, and had the honor of introducing 
him as "the next President of the United States" to the Youngstown 
audience collected at the Erie station. 

I met him once or twice during his Presidential term and had 
considerable correspondence with him, particularly with reference 
to the Tarifif question. Grave doubts were entertained by a great 
many people of General Garfield's orthodoxy on the Tarifif ques- 
tion. He was no doubt tinctured, as most college men are, with 
free trade doctrines; but he was too good a patriot and too much 
of a statesman to overlook what he deemed for the best interests 
of the country. On the floor of Congress, June 4th, 1878, General 
Garfield said: 

We legislate for the United States, and not for the whole world. For the 
present the world is divided into separate nationalities, and that divine command still 
applies to our situation: "He that provideth not for his own household has denied the 
faith and is worse than an infidel;" and until that era arrives, patriotism must supply 
the place of universal brotherhood. For the present, Gortschakoff can do more good 
for the world by taking care of Russia. The great Bismarck can accomplish more for 
his era by being, as he is, German to the core, and promoting the welfare of the 
German Empire. Let Beaconsfield take care of England and MacMahon of France, 
and let Americans devote themselves to the welfare of America. When each does 
his best for his own Nation, to promote prosperity, justice, and peace, all will have 
done more for the world than if all had attempted to be cosmopolitans rather than 
patriots. 



26 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

General Garfield was at times criticized by some of his con- 
stituents, and the following autograph letters will be of interest on 
this point: 

Washington, D. C, January 17th, 1870 
J. G. Butler, Jr. 

Youngstown, Ohio 
Dear Sir: — 

Yours of January 3rd enclosing proceedings of the meeting of pig iron manu- 
facturers in Youngstown, came duly to hand, and its contents have been noted 
and the Resolutions laid before the House of Representatives as a memorial to 
refer to the Committee of Ways and Means, for their consideration. I am ready and 
anxious at all times to receive instructions and recommendations from all the 
citizens of our District, but I am not pleased with the idea entertained, as you 
say, by some of them, "That my backbone needs stiffening", on any question of 
public conduct. I very often and always need information, and the more of it I 
can get, the better: but I do not know what I have ever done since I entered public 
life, that has given anybody in the District the impression that I lack the courage 
to do precisely what I think I ought to do. 

A few days since I wrote a letter to Mr. Cornell (Mr. A. B. Cornell) on the 
same subject, to which I take the liberty to refer you, as an expression of my opinion 
on that subject. 

Very truly yours 

(Signed) J. A. GARFIELD 

Washington, D. C, March 31st, 1870. 
J. G. Butler, Jr. 

Youngstown, Ohio 
Dear Sir: — 

Yours of the 28th inst. is received. I have not yet spoken on the Tarifif Bill, 
but I shall speak tomorrow, and then we shall go into the bill, section by section. 
There have been over forty set speeches made, and a great deal of feeling developed 
on both sides. Five or six strong Republican States of the Northwest are nearly solid 
for a general reduction of rates. It is impossible to say how the matter will turn; 
but great prudence and wisdom are needed to prevent injury to the manufacturing 
interests. I will send you my remarks when they are printed. 

Very truly yours, 
(Signed) J. A. GARFIELD. 
P. S. I will send you a copy of the Gold Report. 

General Garfield was a born orator, and a "patriot of the 
patriots." His oration, delivered at Arlington, Va., May 30th, 
1868, is worthy of reproduction: 






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Rutherford B. Hayes 1 876-1 880 

I RESIDENT HAYES was elected in 1876. There was 
always a doubt in my mind about his election, and in 
the minds of a great many others, but the defect was 
cured in the only way It could have been. I met Presi- 
dent Hayes in Youngstown. He went there with Mrs. 
Hayes to visit General James L. Botsford, and a recep- 
tion was given at the Botsford residence. He was a very 

able man and made a good President, but felt keenly the cloud 

upon his title. 

In 1864 I met his Democratic opponent, Samuel J. Tilden, in 
New" York. I was at that time in the employ of Hale & Ayer of 
Chicago, and was sent by them to negotiate an iron ore transaction. 
Mr. Tilden had just become owner of the New York Iron Mine, 
in the Lake Superior District. I called at his down-town office — 
on Cedar Street, if I remember correctly — and although there was 
a room full of people waiting, I was immediately admitted to his 
presence. 

He was a keen, shrewd, brainy man; one of the ablest men in 
the country. It appears that Mr. Tilden had taken over this ore 
mine in settlement of a debt, but as the Lake Superior ore business 
was then in its swaddling clothes and gave only a meagre sug- 
gestion as to its future possibilities, he as well as many other sharp 
business men of that day, knew little about it. While I was just 
a young man of twenty-three years, he evidently saw after a short 
conversation that I knew something about the ore business that he 
wanted to know. During the three successive days that he kept me 
with him in New York he took me to lunch with him at Del- 
monico's and plied me with all sorts of questions regarding the 
ore regions, the mines, methods of mining, etc., until, when we had 
concluded or rather when he had "pumped me dry," he knew as 
much about the whole matter as I did. He was then general 
counsel for the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad, now 
part of the Pennsylvania lines, and at that time was about to leave 



24 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

on a trip to Chicago. Therefore, he invited me to go there with 
him in his private car, and in those days private cars were almost 
as rare as white blackbirds. However, I felt constrained to decline 
the honor; but many times since I have regretted that decision, for 
a trip in the company of such a brilliant man would have been 
something to remember all the days of my life. 

I had some very interesting correspondence with him later, 
all of which has been lost. 

Governor Tilden's connection with the movement to break up 
the "Tweed ring" in New York City, began at a late hour, but 
was nevertheless strenuous and effective. The Times of New York 
City, began the onslaught and pushed it to near a conclusion. Til- 
den stepped in at the psychical moment and rendered such telling 
efforts that the "ring" was smashed and Tweed sent to prison. The 
Times opposed Tilden's candidacy for the Presidential office and 
fought bitterly to compass his defeat. The opposition of The Times, 
it was said, arose largely out of the belief that Tilden was claiming 
more credit for his part in the fight against Tweed than he was 
entitled to; thus robbing that journal of its full share of glory and 
honor. But it is certain that The Times waged such a war against 
the wrong doings of Tweed and his associates as has never been 
equalled in its intensity before or since; or that resulted in such a 
thorough rooting out of corruption in public office. It would 
therefore appear to an unprejudiced eye, that Tilden, or his friends 
for him, did claim a greater share of credit for the Tweed over- 
throw than was his just due. 




-^i\-^/6u/,^y/6) 



This book is published in response to 
a demand on the part of a number 
of friends who knew of an address 
that the author delivered at the 
ROWFANT CLUB of Cleveland 
on the evening of Saturday, February 
27, 1 909, entitled 

"Presidents I Have Known." 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoivn 27 

Memorial Day Address 

Delivered by Gen. James A. Garfield at Arlington, Va., on May 30, 1868. 

Mr President: 

I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering words on this occa- 
sion. If silence is ever golden, it must be here, beside the graves of fifteen thousand 
men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the 
music of which can never be sung. With words we make promises, plight faith, 
praise virtue. Promises may not be kept; plighted faith may be broken; and vaunted 
virtue be only the cunning mask of vice. We do not know one promise these men 
have made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they 
summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and cit- 
izens. For love of country they accepted death ; and thus resolved all doubts, and made 
immortal their patriotism and their virtue. 

For the noblest man that lives there still remains a conflict. He must still 
withstand the assaults of time and fortune; must still be assailed with temptations 
before which lofty natures have fallen. But with these, the conflict ended, the victory 
was won, when death stamped on them the great seal of heroic character, and 
closed a record which years can never blot. 

I know of nothing more appropriate on this occasion, than to inquire what 
brought these men here? What high motive led them to condense life into an 
hour, and to crown that hour by joyfully welcoming death? Let us consider. 

Eight years ago this was the most unwarlike nation on the earth. For nearly 
fifty years, no spot, in any of these states had been the scene of battle. Thirty 
million of people had an army of less than ten thousand men. The faith of our 
people in the stability and permanence of their institutions was like their faith in the 
eternal course of nature. Peace, liberty and personal security were blessings as common 
and universal as sunshine and showers and fruitful seasons; and all sprang from a 
single source — the principle declared in the Pilgrim covenant of 1620 — that all 
owed due submission and obedience to the lawfully expressed will of the majority. 
This is not one of the doctrines of our political system — it is the system itself. It is 
our political firmament, in which all other truths are set, as stars in heaven. It is the 
encasing air; the breath of the nation's life. Against this principle the whole weight 
of the Rebellion was thrown. Its overthrow would have brought such ruin as might 
follow in the physical universe, if the power of gravitation were destroyed, and — 

Nature's concord broke; 
Among the constellations war were sprung, 
And planets rushing from aspect malign 
Of fiercest opposition in mid-sky 
Should combat and their jarring spheres confound. 

The nation was summoned to arms by every high motive which can inspire men. 



28 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



Two centuries of freedom had made its people unfit for despotism. They must save 
their Government, or miserably perish. 

As a flash of lightning in a midnight tempest, reveals the abysmal horrors of the 
sea, so did the flash of the first gun disclose the awful abyss into which rebellion was 
ready to plunge us. In a moment, the fire was lighted in twenty million hearts. In 
a moment we were the most warlike nation on the earth. In a moment we were not 
merely a people with an army — we were a people in arms. The nation was in column 
— not all at the front, but all in the array. 

I love to believe that no heroic sacrifice is ever lost; that the characters of men 
are moulded and inspired by what their fathers have done; that, treasured up in 
American souls, are all the unconscious influences of the great deeds of the Anglo- 
Saxon race, from Agincourt to Bunker Hill. It was such an influence that led a 
young Greek, two thousand years ago, when musing on the battle of Marathon, to 
exclaim: "The trophies of Miltiades will not let me sleep." Could these men be 
silent in 1861 — these, whose ancestors had felt the inspiration of battle, on every 
field where civilization had fought in the last thousand years? Read their answer 
in this green turf. Each for himself gathered up the cherished purposes of life — its 
aims and ambitions, its dearest affections — and flung all, with life itself, into the 
scale of battle. 

We began the war for the Union alone ; but we had not gone far into its darkness 
before a new element was added to the conflict, which filled the army and the nation 
with cheerful but intense religious enthusiasm. In lessons that could not be misunder- 
stood, the Nation was taught that God had linked to our own, the destiny of an 
enslaved race — that their liberty and our Union were indeed "one and inseparable." 
It was this that made the soul of John Brown the marching companion of our soldiers, 
and made them sing as they went down to battle — 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born, across the sea, 
With a glory in His bosom which transfigures you and me; 
As He died to make men holy let us die to make men free — 
While God is marching on. 

With such inspiration, failure was impossible. The struggle consecrated, in 
some degree, every man who bore a worthy part. I can never forget an incident illus- 
trative of this thought, which it was my fortune to witness, near sun-set of the second 
day of Chickamauga, when the beleaguered but unbroken left wing of our army had 
again and again repelled the assaults of more than double their numbers, and when 
each soldier felt that to his individual hands were committed the life of the army 
and the honor of his country. It was just after a division had fired its last cartridge, 
and had repelled a charge at the point of the bayonet, that the great-hearted com- 
mander took the hand of an humble soldier and thanked him for his steadfast courage. 
The soldier stood silent for a moment and then said, with deep emotion: "George 












7 



Presidents I Have Seen nnJ Kno-un 



29 



H. Thomas has taken tin's hanj in his. I'll knock down any mean man that offers 
to take it hereafter." This rough sentence was full of meaning. He felt that some- 
thing had liaiipened to his hand which had consecrated it. Could a hand bear our 
banner in battle and not be forever consecrated to honor and virtue? Hut doubly 
consecrated were those who received into their own hearts the fatal shafts, aimed at 
the life of their country. Fortunate men! your country lives because you died! Your 
fame is placed where the breath of calumny can never reach it ; where the mistakes 
of a weary life cannot dim its brightness! Coming generations will rise up and call 
you blessed ! 

And now, consider this silent assembly of the dead. What does it represent? 
Nay, rather, what does it not represent? It is an epitome of the war. Merc are 
sheaves reaped, in the harvest of death, from every battlefield of Virginia. If each 
grave had a voice to tell us what its silent tenant last saw and heard on earth, we 
might stand, with uncovered heads, and hear the whole story of the war. We should 
hear that one perished when the first great drops of the crimson shower began to fall, 
when the darkness of that first disaster at Manassas fell like an eclipse on the nation; 
that another died of disease while wearily waiting for winter to end ; that this one 
fell on the field, in sight of the spires of Richmond, little dreaming that the flag must 
be carried through three more years of blood before it should be planted in that 
citadel of treason; and that one fell when the tide of war had swept us back, till the 
roar of rebel guns shook the dome of yonder Capitol, and re-echoed in the chambers of 
the Executive Mansion. We should hear mingled voices from the Rappahannock, the 
Rapidan, the Chickahominy, and the James; solemn voices from tlie Wilderness and 
triumphant shouts from the Shenandoah, from Petersburg, and the Five Forks, mingled 
« ith the wild acclaim of victory and the sweet chorus of returning peace. The voices 
of these dead will forever fill the land like holy benedictions. 

What other spot so fitting for their last resting place as this, under the shadow 
of the Capitol saved by their valor? Here, where the grim edge of battle joined; 
here, where all the hope and fear and agony of their country centered; here let them 
rest, asleep on the nation's heart, entombed in the nation's love! 

The view from this spot, bears some resemblance to that which greets the eye 
at Rome. In sight of the Capitoline Hill, up and across the Tiber, and overlooking 
the city, is a hill, not rugged nor lofty, but known as the Vatican Mount. At the 
beginning of the Christian era, an imperial circus stood on its summit. There, glad- 
iator slaves died for the sport of Rome; and wild beasts fought with wilder men. In 
that arena, a Galilean fisherman gave up his life a sacrifice for his faith. No human 
life was ever so nobly avenged. On that spot was reared the proudest Christian 
temple ever built by human hands. For its adornment, the rich offerings of every 
clime and kingdom have been contributed. And now, after eighteen centuries, the 
hearts of two hundred million people turn toward it with reverence when they wor- 



30 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



ship God. As the traveler descends the Appenines, he sees the dome of St. Peter 
rising above the desolate Campagna and the dead city, long before the seven hills and 
ruined palaces appear to his view. The fame of the dead fisherman has outlived the 
gloiy of the Eternal City. A noble life, crowned with heroic death, rises above and 
outlives the pride and pomp and glory of the mightiest empire of the earth. 

Seen from the western slope of our Capitol, in direction, distance and appear- 
ance, this spot is not unlike the Vatican Mount; though the river that tlows at our 
feet is larger tliaii a iiundred Tibers. Seven years ago, this was the home of one who 
lifted his s\\()i\l at;ainst tlie life of his country, and wlio became the great Imperator 
of the Kebcllion. The soil beneath our feet was watered by the tears of slaves, in 
whose hearts the sight of yonder proud Capitol awakened no pride and inspired no 
hope. The face of tlie goddess tluit crowns it w;is turned towaru tlie sea, and not 
toward them. But, thanks be to God, this arena of rebellion and slavery is a scene 
of violence and crime no longer! This will be forever the sacred mountain of our 
Capitol. Here is our temple; its pavement is the sepulchre of heroic hearts; its dome, 
the bending heaven; its altar candles, the watching stars. 

Hither our children's children shall come to pay their tribute of grateful hom- 
age. For this are wc met to-day. By the happy suggestion of a great society, assem- 
blies like this are gatliering at this hour in everj' state in the Union. Thousands of 
soldiers are to-day turning aside in the march of life to visit the silent encampments 
of dead comrades who once fought by their side. 

From many thousand homes, whose light was put out when a soldier fell, there 
go forth to-day, to join these solenm processions, loving kindred and friends, from 
whose hearts the shadow of grief will never be lifted till the light of the Eternal 
world dawns upon them. 

And here are children, little children, to whom the war left no father but the 
Father above. By the most sacred right, theirs is the chief place to-day. They come 
with garlands to crown their victor fathers. I will delay the coronation no longer. 

I have in my collection a number of autograph letters from 
General Garfield, two of which are herewith reproduced. His 
assassination in 1881 made \' ice- President Chester A. Arthur the 
next President. 




Chester A. Arthur 1 881-1884 

MET General Arthur once, when at the Grand Pacific 
Hotel, Chicago, and had quite a visit with him. 1 had 
the honor of being introduced to him by Robert T. Lin- 
coln, son of President Abraham Lincoln. General 
Arthur had a commanding presence, and was as polite 
as Lord Chesterfield. 

Although he was a good politician, he was handi- 
capped by other politicians. His long association with New York 
politics, prior to his election as President, had so narrowed his 
vision as to prevent hope for any real statesmanship. 

Inaugural Address 

(Delivered by President Arthur, in Washington, on September zznd, 1881.) 

For the fourth time in the history of the Republic, its Chief Executive has 
been removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and sorrow at the hideous 
crime which has darkened our land, and the memory of the murdered President, 
his protracted sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, the example and achievements of 
his life, and the pathos of his death will forever illumine the pages of our historj'. 

For the fourth time, the officer elected by the people and ordained by the Con- 
stitution to fill the vacancy so created, is called to assume the executive chair. The 
wisdom of fathers foreseeing above the most dire possibilities, made sure that the 
Government should never be imperiled because of the uncertainty of human life. 
Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken. No higher 
or more assuring proof could exist of the strength and permanence of popular 
government than the fact that though the chosen of the people be struck down, his 
constitutional successor is peacefully installed, without shock or strain, except the 
sorrow which mourns the bereavement. All the noble aspirations of my lamented 
predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures advised and suggested 
during his brief administration to correct abuses, to enforce economy, to advance 
prosperity and to promote the general welfare, to secure domestic security and to 
maintain friendly and honorable relations with the nations of the earth, will be 
garnered in the hearts of the people; and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit, 
and to see that the nation shall profit, by his example and experience. 

Prosperity blesses our country. Our fiscal policy is fixed by law, is well 
grounded, and generally approved. No threatening issue mars our foreign inter- 
course, and the wisdom, integrity and thrift of our people may be trusted to continue 
undisturbed the present assured career of peace, tranquility and welfare. The gloom 
and anxiety which have enshrouded the country must make repose especially welcome 



'\1 PrrsiJrnts I llavc Srrn tinJ Known 



iiiiw. No ilcmiiiiil toi spccily legislation liiis In-cn licaiil; no adcuuati' occasion is 
iippaicnt for an unusvial session of Congress. The Constitution ilelines the finic- 
tions ami iioweis of the executive as clearly as those of the otlier two departments 
of (he government, aiui he nuisl answer tor the just exercise of the discretion it 
permits anil tl\e pert(Mniance of the thities it imposes. Summoned to these high 
duties and responsibilities ami profoundly conscious of tiieir magnitude and gravity, 
1 assume the trust imposed by the Constitution, relying for aid on divine guidance, 
and the viilue, patriotisivi and intelligence of the American people. 

I'iisl Aiimial Mcssairc 

{^V-Mi lit" document scut by I'rcsitlciu Arthur to Congress, on l^cc. (n\\ iS8i.) 

riu- importance of timely legislation with respect to the ascertainment and de- 
claration of the vote for Presidential electors was sharply called to tlie attention of 
the people more than four years ago. It is to he hoped that some wvU delincd 
measure may he devised before another national election, w liich will render unneces- 
sary the resort to any expeilient of a temporary chaiacter fi>r the determining of 
questions upon contested election returns. 

Questions whicli coi\cern the veiy existence of the (.lovernmcnt and tlie liberties 
of the people were suggested by the prolongevl illness of the late President, and his 
conseipient ii\capacit\ to perform the functions of his otlice. It is provided by the 
second article of the *.\Mistitvition, in tlie liltli clause of its lirst section, that "in 
case of the removal of the President from olhce, or of his death, resignation, or 
inability to discl\arge the piiwers and iluties of the saiil otlice, the sanu" shall devolve 
on the \ ice Piesident." W'iiat is the intemimeut oi the Constitution in its specifi- 
cation of "inability to discharge the powers aiiil duties of the said office" as one of 
the contingencies which calls the \ ice President to exercise the Presidential func- 
tions? Again, is the inability limitcil in its natvue to long-continued intellectu.ol 
incapacity, or has it a brtuder import? What must be its extent and duration? 
Jlow must its existence be establishe»l ? Has the Presiilent. whose inability is the 
subject of iuipiiry, any voice in determining whether or not it exists, or is the 
dei'ision of that i\u>mentous ai\il ilelicate ijuestion contiiu-d to the \'ice President, 
or is it contemplatcvl by the Constitution that Congress should provide by law pre- 
cisely what should constitute inability, how and by what tribunal or authority it 
should be ascertaiiu-d ? If the inability proves to be temporary in its nature, and 
during its contimiana" the \ ice Piesident lawfully exercises the functions of the 
executive, b.\ vvhat tenure does he hold his otVue? Hoes he continue as Pivsident 
for the remainder of the four years" term? Or would the elected President, if his 
iiuibility sho\ild cease after an interval be entpowered to resume his otlice? If, 
havittg such lawful authority, he should cxtrmsc it, would the Nice President there- 
\ipon be empowered to irsume his powers and duties as such? 

I can not dotdn that these important questions should receive your early and 
faithful consideration. 




■■^. .■ 



\ 






.iT^ . ^ ^,„ , 



GroverCleveland 1 884-1 888 and 1892 
-1896 

SAW President Cleveland but once. When General 
Grant was buried and the monument dedicated in New 
York, 1 was honored with a seat on the platform and 
was quite near President Cleveland. It was a cold, 
blustery day, and everybody was nearly frozen; but all 
waited until the ceremony was over. 1 had a good look 
at President Cleveland; his features were rugged, but 




homely. 



He was a much greater President than he got credit for during 
his lifetime. There was no question as to his back-bone being 
rigid; nor as to his being able to rise above party prejudice. His- 
tory will rank him as a statesman. 

That President Cleveland was first a patriot and afterward a 
politician was made plain early in his first Presidential term, in 
fact just before he took the oath of office at Washington. Upon 
three occasions he showed his patriotism in a manly and courageous 
manner, for he had to fight his own party upon at least two of these 
occasions. One was in an attempt to head off the Democratic 
party in its drift toward "free silver;" another was in denouncing 
the amended Wilson tarifif bill after it had been mangled in the 
senate almost beyond recognition by its friends, using upon this 
occasion the now famous expression of his opinion that it was 
a piece of "party perfidy and party dishonor," which rang through 
the country at the time; and the third time, he showed his courage 
in issuing his famous order against the reign of disorder in Chicago 
at the time of the Debs railroad riots. This last move was especially 
notew^orthy because at that time labor unionism was rampant and 
for a politician to oppose it meant a battle later on. But, although 
Governor John P. Altgeld refused to end the disorder in Chicago 
brought about by railroad strike sympathizers which threatened 
anarchy and startled the whole country, President Cleveland did 



34 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

not hesitate to do his duty as he saw it and regular army troops 
at his order soon put down the threatening reign of terror. 

As I have pointed out, early in his Presidential career, Presi- 
dent Cleveland saw the dangers of "free silver," and in his "Recol- 
lections of Grover Cleveland," George F. Parker points out why 
the letter was written by Mr. Cleveland to a group of Ohio advo- 
cates of the financial heresy, Gen. A. J. Warner and others: 

After the election, Mr. Tilden — whose knowledge of our financial conditions was 
larger than that of any other man of his period — saw the great danger that lurked in 
the continued coinage of silver under the Bland-Allison Act, and he, through a friend, 
communicated his fears to the President-elect, with a suggestion that he write a letter 
setting forth his views. So on February 24, 1885, only eight days before the inauguration, 
there was published the letter addressed "A. J. Warner and Other Members-Elect of 
the New Congress," the famous document in which the danger of the then existing 
conditions was pointed out, and a change of policy was recommended and enforced. 

But the heresy did not down so easily and the agitation kept 
up until it finally engulfed the party itself. President Cleveland in 
his second term set his face resolutely against the doctrine then 
gaining immense popularity, and it led to his being severely 
denounced during the McKinley-Bryan campaign of 1896 by those 
Democrats who sought political power rather than the country's 
best interests. Parker thus speaks of the course pursued by Presi- 
dent Cleveland just before retiring from the Presidency the last 
time : 

One of Mr. Cleveland's intimate friends tells me that he went to Washington in 
1893, at the beginning of the extra session called to repeal the Silver Purchase clause 
of the Sherman Act. He soon became convinced that opposition inside his own party 
— little short of treachery — was then widespread, and also beyond control. It was 
difficult to convince Mr. Cleveland that such a thing was possible, and as events 
slowly developed during the next two years, my friend again went to Washington, and 
still found that the President, in spite of the repeal of the Silver Law, was skeptical 
about the fear that the Democratic party could be shifted from its moorings as a sound 
money organization. He writes: 

"Mr. Cleveland was slow to believe that the party could take such a course. It 
seemed to him so abhorrent as to be impossible. When the blow fell, he met it with 
his usual splendid courage. His attitude toward Bryan, Senator Vest and the other 
mis-leaders, I can only describe as an exhibition of sorrow, pity, and Christian patience. 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoicn 35 



He looked upon them as one looks upon mad men, who endanf;er themselves while in- 
juring others. Through it all, he showed the same grim determination to hold fast to 
principle, and to look to time for that vindication which came in such ample measure 
before he passed away. In January, 1896, when I told him that nothing could keep 
the party from going wrong, he replied: 'Then it will be our duty to stand by our 
guns and let the party go, if it insists upon abandoning principle for expediency at the 
risk of the country's ruin.' " 

The President lived to see those men who had lied from and 
denounced him for his financial views, finally turn to him for aid 
at another crisis. He had retired to Princeton, N. J., and was 
living in dignified retirement when the financial crisis of 1907 
came. One of the largest factors in that crisis was the insurance 
company investigation and a wave of popular distrust threatened 
to sweep to ruin many of the largest insurance institutions in New 
York. He with two other men of large business affairs was named 
as trustees to conserve the interests of thousands of policy holders 
in one of the greatest of these endangered concerns, as well as of 
the stockholders. The confidence that all had in his courage, 
sturdy honesty and sound judgment, which later was demonstrated 
to be entirely justified, helped as much as any one thing to tran- 
quilize the country and to save these great institutions whose failure 
would have plunged the country into terrible sufferings. 

His proclamation issued July 8, 1894, against the Chicago rail- 
road rioters shows the forceful character of the man: 

Whereas, by reason of unlawful obstructions, combinations and assemblages of 
persons it has become impracticable in the judgment of the President to enforce by 
ordinan,' course of judicial proceedings the laws of the United States within the State 
of Illinois, and especially in the city of Chicago within said state: and 

Whereas, for the purpose of enforcing tiic faithful execution of the laws of the 
United States and protecting its property and removing obstructions to the United 
States mails in the state and city aforesaid, the President has employed part of the 
military force of the United States: 

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do 
hereby admonish all good citizens and all persons who may be or may come within the 
city and state aforesaid against aiding, countenancing, encouraging, or taking any part 
in such unlawful obstructions, combinations and assemblages; and I hereby warn all 
persons engaged in, or in any way connected with such unlawful obstructions, combina- 
tions and asseml)lages to disperse and retire peacefully to their respective abodes on or 
before 12:00 o'clock, noon, on the ninth day of July instant. 



26 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

Those who disregard this warning and persist in taking part in a riotous mob, 
in forcibly resisting and in obstructing the execution of the laws of the United States, 
or interfering with the functions of the Government, or destroying or attempting to 
destroy property belonging to the United States, or under its protection, can not be 
regarded otherwise than as public enemies. Troops employed against such a riotous 
mob will act with all moderation and forbearance consistent with the accomplishment 
of the desired end, but the stern necessities that confront them will not with certainty 
permit discrimination between guilty participants and those who are mingled with 
them from curiosity but without criminal intent. The only safe course, therefore, for 
those not actually unlawfully participating is to abide at their homes, or at least not 
to be found in the neighborhood of riotous assemblages. 

While there will be no hesitation or vacillation in the decisive treatment of the 
guilty, this warning is especially intended to protect and save the innocent. 

On several occasions President Cleveland startled the country 
with the suddenness and seriousness of his messages to Congress. 
The most important of all these was that relative to the Venezuelan 
afifair, because, while it caused the keenest sort of feeling for a 
time with Great Britain, yet it resulted in the Monroe Doctrine 
being rescued from the class of platitudes and made vital, living 
doctrine. Incidentally, it is popularly believed that acting from 
this hint Emperor William of Germany determined to forego his 
proposed attempt to gain a foothold in South America. 

In July, 1895, President Cleveland had transmitted to Lord 
Pauncefote, British ambassador at Washington, an important dis- 
patch respecting Venezuela and its dispute with Great Britain over 
the boundary line between Venezuela and British Guiana. The 
secret of the dispatch was well kept until the President could 
formally make it known to Congress which met the following De- 
cember. On Dec. 17, 1895, he sent to Congress a copy of the dis- 
patch together with a short message in explanation. In this he 
announced "in tones neither mild nor inside the language usual 
to diplomacy" that without further delay the whole boundary dis- 
pute must be submitted to arbitration. While vehement arraign- 
ment of the United States in England followed, calmer judgment 
prevailed and war talk died out. 




Benjamin Harrison 1 888-1 892 

SAW President Harrison several times. He spoke in 
Youngstown on two occasions during Presidential cam- 
paigns other than his own. 1 met him afterward at the 
Duquesne Club, Pittsburg, and at a reception and the 
dedication of the Carnegie Library in the city of Alle- 
[gheny. Pa. He was aristocratic in his bearing and cold 
and distant in his manner — one of the men to whom it 
is necessary to be introduced every time you meet them. However, 
he made a good President, handicapped somewhat by the fact that 
his grandfather had been President before him. 

Growth of Tariff Idea 

From the Inaugural Address delivered by Benjamin Harrison March 4, 1888. 

The surrender of a large measure of sovereignty to the general government, af- 
fected by the adoption of the Constitution, was not accomplished until the suggestions of 
reason were strongly reinforced by the more imperative voice of experience. The 
divergent interests speedily demanded a "more perfect Union." The merchant, the 
shipmaster and the manufacturer discovered and disclosed to our statesmen and to the 
people that commercial emancipation must be added to the political freedom which 
had been so bravely won. The commercial policy of the mother country had not re- 
laxed any of its hard and oppressive features. To hold in check the development of 
our commercial marine, to prevent or retard the establishment and growth of manu- 
factures in the states, and so to secure the American market for their shops and the 
carrying trade for their ships, was the policy of European statesmen, and was pursued 
with the most selfish vigor. 

Petitions poured in upon Congress urging the imposition of discriminating duties 
that should encourage the production of needed things at home. The patriotism of 
the people, which no longer found a field of exercise in war, was energetically directed 
to the duty of equipping the young Republic for the defence of its independence by 
making its people self-dependent. Societies for the promotion of home manufactures 
and for encouraging the use of domestics in the dress of the people were organized in 
many of the states. The revival at the end of the century of the same patriotic interest 
in the preservation and development of domestic industries and the defence of our 
working people against injurious foreign competition is an incident worthy of attention. 
It is not a departure but a return that we have witnessed. The protective policy had 
then its opponents. The argument was made, as now, that its benefits inured to par- 
ticular classes or sections. 



38 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



If the question became in any sense or at any time sectional, it was only because 
slavery existed in some of the states. But for this there was no reason why the cotton 
producing states should not have led or walked abreast with the New England states 
in the production of cotton fabrics. There was this reason only why the states that 
divide with Pennsylvania the mineral treasures of the great southeastern and central 
mountain ranges should have been so tardy in bringing to the smelting furnace and to 
the mill the coal and iron from their near opposing hillsides. Mill fires were lighted 
at the funeral pile of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was heard in the depths 
of the earth as well as in the sky ; men were made free, and material things became our 
better servants. * * * 

I have altogether rejected the suggestion of a special Executive policy for any sec- 
tion of our country. It is the duty of the Executive to administer and enforce in the 
methods and by the instrumentalities pointed out and provided by the Constitution 
all the laws enacted by Congress. These laws are general, and their administration 
should be uniform and equal. As a citizen may not elect what laws he will obey, 
neither may the Executive elect which he will enforce. The duty to obey and to exe- 
cute embraces the Constitution in its entirety and the whole code of laws enacted under 
it. The evil example of permitting individuals, corporations or communities to nullity 
the laws because they cross some selfish or local interest or prejudice is full of danger, 
not only to the nation at large, but much more to those who use this pernicious expe- 
dient to escape their just obligations or to obtain an unjust advantage over others. 
They will presently themselves be compelled to appeal to the law for protection, and 
those who would use the law as a defence must not deny that use of it to others. 

If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal limitations 
and duties, they would have less cause to complain of the unlawful limitations of their 
rights or of violent interference with their operations. The community that by con- 
cert, open or secret, among its citizens, denies to a portion of its members their plain 
rights under the law, has severed the only safe bond of social order and prosperity. 
The evil works from a bad centre both ways. It demoralizes those who practice it, and 
destroys the faith of those who suffer by it in the efficiency of the law as a safe protec- 
tor. The man in whose breast that faith has been darkened is naturally the subject of 
dangerous and uncaimy suggestions. Those who use unlawful methods, if moved by 
no higher motive than the selfishness that prompted them, may well stop and inquire 
what is to be the end of this. 

An unlawful expedient cannot become a permanent condition of government. If 
the educated and influential classes in a community either practice or connive at the 
systematic violation of laws that seem to them to cross their convenience, what can 
they expect when the lesson that convenience or a supposed class interest is a sufficient 
cause for lawlessness has been well learned by the ignorant classes? A community 
where law is the rule of conduct and where courts, not mobs, execute its penalties, is 
the only attractive field for business investments and honest labor. 




WILLIAM .McKIXLEY 





William McKinley 1896-1900 and 
1900-1901 

Y ACQUAINTANCE and knowledge of President 
McKinley dates from boyhood. He lived the first ten 
or eleven years of his life at Niles, O., where I lived 
also. I went to school with him and was his daily com- 
panion, whether school was in session or not. We studied 
together, walked together, went swimming together, and 
pretty nearly got drowned together, on one occasion. 

Our lives were saved by Jacob Shelar, who is still living and able 

to tell the tale. We got beyond our depth, and neither of us could 

swim very well, when Shelar came to the rescue. 

Adequate reference to my acquaintance subsequently would fill 

a great many pages. I visited him at his home, and he visited my 

home on many occasions. We were close friends. 

While he was Governor of Ohio, 1 was chairman at a meeting 

in the old Opera House at Youngstown, and introduced him as 

"the next President of the United States." 

I was a delegate to the Philadelphia convention in 1900, which 

nominated McKinley and Roosevelt. We had a special car and, 

after the nomination, went to Washington to pay our respects to 

McKinley. This was a notable visit. I cannot recollect all the 

names of the gentlemen in our party, but do remember Henry H. 

Stambaugh, John Stambaugh, T. E. Davey, M. A. Norris and 

S. D. L. Jackson. 

I remember asking McKinley how he was satisfied with his 

running-mate, Roosevelt. He replied: "Just as I wanted it," and 

added, with a smile: "It is going to be very hard for Roosevelt 

to sit still long enough to preside in the Senate." 

I met President McKinley on two or three occasions at the 

White House, and on these occasions got very well acquainted with 

his secretary, George B. Cortelyou, who has been my good friend 

ever since. 



40 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

The last time I saw President McKinley was at Canton, about 
two weeks before his death. I paid him a visit at his home, and 
something inspired me to have a plain talk with him with reference 
to taking more care for his person. I told him plainly that I 
thought he was in danger. He rather ridiculed the idea; and 
what I said to him made little impression. Two weeks later he 
was assassinated at Buffalo. 

As my acquaintance and intimacy with the late President 
McKinley was closer than with any of the other Presidents I have 
seen or known, I deem it proper to include in this volume some 
matters of rather personal interest. 

President McKinley was not considered much of a business 
success. His mind was so deeply imbued with patriotism and his 
time so fully occupied with public affairs that he did not give very 
much attention to his own private afifairs, but left them to others. 

Perhaps Robert L. Walker, of Poland, O. — who is still living — 
had more to do with McKinley, in a business way, than any other 
one person, and had known him and known his family from early 
boyhood. On 'March 26th, 1909, at my request, Mr. Walker came 
to my office, and we had a talk with reference to the McKinley 
family, and with reference to McKinley's financial embarrassment, 
which is herein set forth: 



Interview with Robert L. Walker 

Had by J. G. Butler Jr. at Youngstown, O., on March 26, 1909 

When did you first become acquainted with Mr. William McKinley, Sr., the 
father of President McKinley? 

In 1853. 

Where was this? 

At Niles. I formed his acquaintance about 1853 in Niles. He was then run- 
ning a furnace near New Wilmington, Pa. ; he was superintendent of the furnace and 
I do not remember the name, but believed the people were from New Castle. I saw 
him at different times in his home at Niles ; and, I often heard him discuss the Tariff 
question about as thoroughly as any man can discuss it. He said he had suffered from 
the want of a Tariff, and he knew the need of it, by experience. He discussed it 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoicn 4^ 

with me in the presence of his family and with the Major, and I recall the attention 
of the boy to what his father said at that time. He gave me ideas on the Tariff ques- 
tion that I have never forgotten. 

To what extent do you think William McKinley, St., influenced his son? 

I think, to a very great extent. The Tariff question was preached to him as a 
boy by his father, and from this I think the father deserves a great deal of credit for 
the position the Major finally took in the matter; it was instilled into him from 

infancy. 

What do you remember as to the President's mother? 

She was a grand woman, and I cannot put it in language fine enough. She 
was a woman of great executive ability; she controlled her children from a love and 
affection they had for her, and was not severe in her manner of control. Tliey were 
anxious to give their children a good education ; the father said to me once, that he 
had nothing else for them. The father and mother were very bright. 

They left Niles about 1853 to go to Poland, where they could have the ad- 
vantages of a school to educate the children. The oldest one, David, went to Califor- 
nia, and James went later. The oldest daughter, Anna, had been down at Poland to 
school before the family moved there. They sent the children to the school and to the 
college. The oldest daughter, Anna, then went to Kentucky to teach school and was 
in Kentucky at the time the war broke out, when she became restless and dissatisfied; 
but the man with whom she boarded and who thought a great deal of her family, 
wished her to stay, and this she did for a short time; but, finally went to a cousin, 
named Miller, in Canton and taught there. She was in Canton through the balance 
of the war and in i8b8 she got the Major to go there. The Major was in the army 
and when he came out, went to the Albany law school, where he first met Judge 
George F. Arrel, now of Youngstown, O. 

Where they lived, the lady announced to them one day at the table, that she 
was going to have a new girl, and she said she was very beautiful, and wished the 
boys to be agreeable to her. All were expecting to see a beautiful girl; but when she 
came, both the Major and the Judge said, she was the homeliest woman they had ever 
seen. I went to school in Poland at the same time as the Major. 

When did you first meet Major McKinley, and, when did he first begin to do 

things? 

I met him about 1856, and I did not see him from the time he came out of the 
army— 1865— until 1876, in the public square at Youngstown; but, after that I met 
him many times. He first began to do things when he came up for Congress the first 
time, the year of 1876. 

When did you first have in mind that he might become President? 

I told him at various times, about 1880, that he would be President. 

To what do you attribute his nomination for President? 



42 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



His record in Congress had a great deal to do with it. 

Do you think he would have been nominated, but for Marcus A. Hanna's as- 
sistance? 

He became a very influential man before meeting Hanna. Hanna never came 
to McKinley until the Major had established himself politically. When the Major 
made his second run for Congress he was pretty badly used. Laurin D. Woodworth, 
Judge Peter A. Laubie and Judge L. W. King fought bitterly against him, and if he 
had failed in the second nomination, as he often said to me, the probabilities are he 
never would have become President. If it were not for a man named Coates, of Alli- 
ance, and a Mr. Aultman and myself, I doubt whether he would have ever pulled in 
on the second nomination ; it was a very hard pull. 

He began to do better the second term, and yet, it was an outrage the way he 
was treated. He never had much money and struggled for it all the time, and it was 
at this time I tried very hard to cheer him up. It went along until there was to be 
a presidential nomination in Minneapolis and he got a letter from Hanna. He wrote 
me a letter and asked me to come to Canton immediately. He and his wife were liv- 
ing at the St. Cloud Hotel ; they never kept house after he started to Congress, ex- 
cept that his wife managed her father's house at times. So I went over there and met 
him at his office and he asked me to come to the hotel and their room was about the 
third floor. He got out the letter from Mr. Hanna, in which Hanna proposed to 
take the Major to the convention at Minneapolis, free of charge, and he asked me 
what I thought of it. I said: "If he pays your expenses, you won't be any the poorer 
when you get back," and this was the first help he had from Hanna. 

Do you think that Senator Hanna, when he started in to help McKinley, had 
his own political ends in view? 

He began to go into politics at this time, and he felt pretty sure, after helping 
the Major, that he could have help from him in return, but even after that McKinley 
had four or five hard struggles and received no help, and the Cleveland Leader fought 
McKinley and McKinley was very much hurt over it. I could not see why anybody 
in the state of Ohio would try to defeat anyone from their own state, who was as 
well equipped as he was; and they did not stand for the Major. 

Do you remember of ever being present in the Opera House here when McKin- 
ley made a speech ? 

Yes. 

Do you remember the one about the tinplate business? 

Yes. He went very heavy on that; through the tinplate business from begin- 
ning to end. 

Did you see him several times after he was President? 

Never saw him after he was President. 

When did you first have business relations with him? 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoivn 43 

About 1877. 

Were you not very kind to him? 

Well, I suppose I was; if it had not been for my interest in him he would not 
have been nominated the second time for Congress. 

Did you help him largely because of your personal regard for him? 

Yes. 

Did you help him at times when others failed him? 

Yes, I helped him a great many times in the second campaign, when nobody 
helped him. Mr. Coates, Mr. Aultman and myself, furnished the money for cam- 
paign purposes. I helped to the extent of a hundred thousand dollars in business 
ways. 

Were you unjustly criticized at this time? 

I was, very much, and abused for helping him, but I kept quiet on account of 
my respect for him. 

Were you present at the meeting at General Botsford's house, when it became 
known he had failed, and came here in great distress? 

No; the next morning just after daylight, he came to see me. 

Do you think he realized the exact financial condition he was in? 

The Major never kept track of his business affairs; I probably knew as much 
of them as he did. He stayed with me a couple of hours and was on his way to New 
York when they telegraphed him to come to Youngstown. Mr. Hanna received and 
took a great deal of credit for raising the money to pay his debts; but a great many 
people helped him. (The Brier Hill people all helped him and the Tod family, but 
they never received any credit.) After this money had been raised and his debts paid, 
they still scored me in the newspapers. 

At the time that all these troubles came up about McKinley's financial condi- 
tion, it was stated in the papers and reported, that you were responsible for his fail- 
ure. Is this the case? 

No. At this time I wrote out about thirty-seven thousand dollars' worth of 
paper for him. There was forty thousand dollars' worth for the coal company he 
was in; when the company — the West Newton Mines — failed, they put all this on 
me. He had the same amount as I had, but all was figured to me. 

I think it is quite clear, from all the above, that iM r. Walker 
was the original McKinley man; that he was more than kind to 
the late President; and that he undoubtedly lost his fortune throu'.i;h 
his connection with President McKinley. 



44 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



A Crisis in McKinley's Life 

An incident occurred in February, 1893, of such serious import as to involve 
the political and financial future of William McKinley. He was then Governor of 
Ohio, and consequently the story of what happened was given wide publicity. It 
was not supposed that McKinley had any connection with business enterprises, nor 
had he except that which grew out of his friendship with Robert L. Walker, of 
Poland, O., one of his early friends. Walker had loaned McKinley various amounts 
of money when he was attending the Albany Law School, and later on had assisted 
him in his campaign, until McKinley owed him about $5,000. Walker was inter- 
ested in Ohio and Pennsylvania coal mines and in a tin plate stamping works. His 
credit became exhausted, and on the verge of the panic of 1893 he asked McKinley 
to return the amount that he owed him, or rather, give him his note for the amount, 
in order that he might tide over his financial embarrassment. He had also asked 
McKinley to endorse paper for him. This McKinley had done, until bis name was 
on a large amount of notes, — just how much the Governor, who was not a business 
man, did not know, inasmuch as he kept no record of it. McKinley felt some 
apprehension about this endorsed paper, which was being put through the banks; 
and he said to a friend if he could borrow $5,000 or $10,000 with which to pay 
back the amount, with interest, that he really owed Walker, he would not consider 
it necessary to continue the practice of endorsing paper for Walker. These funds 
were furnished the Governor and turned over to Walker, with the request that he 
take McKinley's name off the notes upon which it appeared. The condition of 
the money market and the financial embarrassment of Walker made it impossible 
for him to comply with this request. One day in February, in company with some 
friends. Governor McKinley left Columbus for New York City, where he was to 
deliver an address before the Ohio Society. On arriving in Buffalo in the evening, 
he received a telegram stating that the coal mine company and the tin plate stamp- 
ing works of Robert L. Walker had failed. This was entirely unexpected and 
brought the Governor to a realization of his situation. He discontinued his journey 
to New York, and took the next train for Youngstown, arriving there in the early 
hours of the morning. He went immediately to the house of his life-long friend 
and army comrade, General James L. Botsford. They sat in gloom before the 
fire in the library, trying to plan some way by which the apparently overwhelming 
disaster could be averted. The General in vain tried to persuade the Governor to 
retire, saying that it was too early to do anything, and beside he must be greatly in 
need of rest. 

"No sir," was McKinley's reply, "I cannot sleep; I must see Walker. I must 
understand the situation before I can rest, for my whole future, politically and 
financially, is involved in this." 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 45 

The General then suggested that they go to see Hal K. Taylor, assignee of 
Walker. This they did, and got Taylor out of bed to talk to him. After some 
conversation it was apparent to both Taylor and Botsford that McKinley knew very 
little about the matter and was not advised as to the extent of his obligation ; for 
to Taylor's inquiry' as to the amount of paper on which he thought he was liable, 
the Governor replied : 

"So far as I can remember, it is about $20,000 or $30,000." 

"Well, Major," said Taylor, "I have already found about $60,000, and there 
may be more." 

This announcement was a serious blow to McKinley, who, although he felt 
that the amount might be somewhat larger than that which he named, was not 
prepared to learn that it would reach the sum suggested by Taylor. The next day 
it was found that McKinley 's obligation would reach something more than $go,ooo. 
McKinley suggested to his friends that he wanted to see Walker, to give him his 
opinion of these transactions in no uncertain terms. He indicated that he would 
talk to Walker witii great severity. General Botsford and the Governor went to 
Walker's house. They were met by Mrs. Walker and her daughter, who were 
overwhelmed with grief and mortification, and were taken to the bed-side of Walker, 
who had broken down under the strain. When McKinley saw him, the recollection 
of Walker's many acts of kindness to him, came to him, and standing by the bed- 
side, with tears in his eyes, he said : 

"Have courage, Robert, there are better days in store for you." 

During that morning several conferences were held with personal friends in 
Youngstown, in an endeavor to devise some plan to save the Governor from financial 
ruin. These men were McKinley 's staunch political friends, and they felt that his 
political future was at stake. Finally it was decided that it was best for the Gover- 
nor to go to Cleveland, to consult with his friend of long standing, Myron T. 
Herrick. With General Botsford, the Governor took the train for Cleveland, 
telegraphing Herrick that he would be at the Weddell House. On the way. Gover- 
nor McKinley said to Botsford: 

"I do not see my way out of this, but I feel encouraged for I believe that 
Herrick can see some way out of this if he does one thing." 

"What is that?" asked the General. 

"If he takes me to his home, I shall feel that he thinks there is some way out," 
said the Governor. "If he does not do this, I shall understand that his friendship 
is only political, and that he sees no way to help me." 

Soon after their arrival, they were met by the banker, who went very carefully 
over the events relating to the failure. After hearing all that was to be said on 
the subject, Herrick went to the telephone and called up Mrs. Herrick, asking her 
to send the carriage for Governor McKinley, who was to be their guest for an 



46 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

indefinite period. Botsford and McKinley exchanged significant glances, for they 
felt that they had secured a champion for their cause. While they were at the 
hotel, a telegram was received from Herman H. Kohlsaat, expressing his sympathy, 
and asking if he could not come on, — that his purse was open. McKinley answered 
the telegram, thanking him for his sympathy, saying that there was nothing that 
he could do, and gave the telegram to Herrick to send. Mr. Herrick took thd 
telegram, put it in his pocket and wrote another one, signing the Governor's name, 
in which he said that he appreciated his sympathy, to come as soon as possible, and 
to report to Myron T. Herrick. Mr. Kohlsaat arrived on Sunday morning, and 
by appealing to some twenty-five of the Governor's personal friends, Herrick and 
Kohlsaat were able to raise an amount sufficient to save McKinley from the im- 
pending disaster. 

During all this time M. A. Hanna was in Milwaukee, fighting the only great 
financial battle of his life, for he had, to some extent, become involved in the Schles- 
singer failure. Therefore, his attention for several days was confined to his own 
affairs, the successful outcome of which was due to his great ability. 

Mrs. McKinley v\'as in New York, but immediately joined the Governor at the 
Herrick home, where they remained as guests for tvvo weeks, during which time 
the whole situation was cleared up. 

Tariff Speech by William McKinley 

Dehvered before the National Tariff Convention, held in Cooper Union, 
New York, on November 29 and 30, 1881 

On November 29th and 30th, 1881, there was held at the 
Cooper Institute in New York, a National Tariff Convention, at 
which Congressman McKinley was a delegate, and at which I had 
the honor also of being a delegate. The proceedings of this Con- 
vention were published by The American Iron and Steel Associa- 
tion; and Mr. McKinley made the following address, which was 
reported in the published proceedings: 

It may be stated in general terms that, if there is any one thing fixed and defi- 
nitely settled in our national policy, it is that we must have a tariff for revenue and 
protection. This is clearly the dominant sentiment of this country, and it will be, so 
long as revenues are required for governmental purposes, and so long as a just con- 
sideration is accorded to American labor, and regard is had for commercial and in- 
dustrial development in the United States. This policy is as old as the Government. 
It received early and emphatic recognition from the framers of our national Constitu- 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoun 47 



tion and the first Congress which assembled under it; and, while it has not always 
been maintained, experience teaches us that whenever it lias been disregarded the Na- 
tion has not only suffered in its revenues and its credit, but its material growth has 
been checked, business disasters have followed, and the laboring people have uniform- 
ly experienced loss and personal discomfort. It must not be forgotten that the policy 
in part enabled the United States to raise revenue to carry on and successfully ter- 
minate a great Rebellion; to build up a wasted credit and maintain it; and as a part 
of its fruits we witness on the first of ever}' month a gratifying advance toward the 
extinguishment of the great national debt; while the industries of the country are 
multiplying and diversifying until their elevating and civilizing influences are seen 
on every hand. The East and West are not alone its beneficiaries, but the South is 
already feeling its force and quickening into energy under its influence. 

No party can successfully battle this grand principle of self-preservation and 
national independence. It gains adherents from its better understanding and gathers 
friends as its triumphs are seen. It has no touch of sectionalism and casts no shadows 
of past conflicts. It can excite no bitter partisan warfare, nor awaken any of the un- 
pleasant memories of the past. It is natural in its purposes, its blessings and its bene- 
fits. It has given life and permanence to the great manufactures of the United States, 
which are our pride and glory, and they, in turn have furnished a good and conven- 
ient market for the products of the farmer, while under its operation labor has found 
ready and profitable employment. There is no section or true American interest that 
does not share in its beneficence and feel the life-giving force of its influence. Labor, 
which forms the basis of all true wealth, is most perceptibly benefited by a wise Pro- 
tective system. Nowhere is this more manifest than in the condition of our laboring 
men, mechanics and artisans, when contrasted with the condition of the laboring men 
of other countries. Nobody realizes this more than the skilled and unskilled Ameri- 
can laborer. This difference of condition, to me, is a full justification of our tariff 
policy, and is compensation enough if it stopped here. 

As the late President Garfield declared, in his letter of acceptance in speaking 
of the tariff and its relation to labor: "It is our glory that the American laborer is 
more intelligent and better paid than his foreign competitor." 

We do not want to carrj' this national policy to extremes. It should not be 
prohibitory in its operations, but so just as to allow a fair competition between the 
home and foreign producer, and so reasonable as to always be defensible by its friends 
and impregnable to the assaults of its enemies. 

In the main, our tariff' laws come within this rule. They do not prevent for- 
eign trade with this country, or shut out the United States as a market for the 
world's producers. In some respects they need a careful revision, one which will drop 
out the inconsistencies and incongruities which now exist. 



48 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

The advocates of Protection have no fear of an intelligent revision of the 
tariff; indeed they invite it. They believe it will survive the closest scrutiny, and 
that an investigation of the subject, conscientiously and intelligently made, will 
strengthen, not weaken, their position. 

It must be conceded, I think, that some of the rulings of the custom officers of 
the Treasury Department have inflicted great injury upon the home producer and de- 
prived the Government of honest revenue, and that they demand a speedy remedy. 
Where the remedy is to be found will command, I trust, the best thought of this con- 
vention. 

I am not here to question either the intelligence or integrity of the officers 
whose decisions we complain of. It is the decision, not the court or tribunal making 
it, with which as practical men you have to deal. The executive officer must inter- 
pret the law as he understands it. If he is wrong, there should be a final court, pos- 
sessing the requisite intelligence and the confidence of the people, to review the execu- 
tive rulings and announce the laws as rightly interpreted. Much of the injury com- 
plained of is the fault of the law, and can only be corrected by amendments which 
shall make the text of the statute so plain that a wayfaring man can comprehend it, 
and the humblest Treasury official can not err in its execution ; and so plain that 
neither the foreign producer nor the importer, nor both combined, can evade its pro- 
visions. 

New forms of manufacture, which were not in existence or were unknown at 
the time the present law was enacted or having no commercial designation then, and 
are imported under the clause, "other manufactures not herein provided for," should 
be either added to the law by their true and accepted designation or covered by a gen- 
eral provision which shall make such new form dutiable at a rate not less than the 
rate charged upon the material of chief value of which it is composed. In many cases 
the new form is an advanced stage of manufacture, representing more labor and ex- 
pense, or is given a new form to evade the duties otherwise chargeable; and yet, un- 
der the law and the Treasury' rulings, it is admitted at a less rate of duty than the 
simpler manufactured product of the same general class or cruder form of the same 
materials, or what is substantially the same product and employed for the same uses. 

Let me illustrate: By reference to the statute it will be found that bar iron, 
which is used for wagon tires, pays a duty of i^ cents per pound, and that hoop 
iron such as is used for barrel hoops, pays the same duty; but should any amount of 
labor, no matter how trifling, be expended upon the above forms of iron, and which 
would not essentially increase their value, but would give a new commercial designa- 
tion to the product, under the existing interpretation of the law they are admitted at a 
much lower rate of duty than though they had been imported without any added labor 
or expense. It surely was not the purpose of the law that bar iron which pays a duty 
of i| cents per pound if found cut in lengths, holes punched into the ends and riv- 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 49 



eted and welded together for use in making wagon tires, should pay a less duty tlian 
the bar iron having no such labor or contrivance added. The same is true of hoop 
iron, which pa\s a duty of li cents per pound; but if cut into lengths and a buckle 
or loop riveted thereto, is at once transformed from hoop iron to the general classi- 
fication called "manufactures not otherwise provided for", and bears only a duty of 35 
per centum ad valorem. A like condition is found as to galvanized iron, which bears 
a duty of 2 cents per pound ; but when imported in plates of a peculiar construction, to 
be used for roofing, is held to be dutiable as manufactures of iron at 35 per centum ad 
valorem. Coal-hods, manufactured exclusively of galvanized iron, pay a very much 
less duty than simple galvanized iron, notwithstanding the increased labor and ex- 
pense employed to put it in that form. It is done by foreign labor, and yet comes in 
at a less duty than the plain galvanized iron — a marked discrimination in favor of 
the foreign and against the American laborer. The same is true as to plate iron, 
which pays a specific duty ; but when prepared readv to be put together for the man- 
ufacture of tanks it escapes the full duty and is admitted under the clause of "manu- 
factures not otherwise provided for" at 35 per centum ad valorem. 

One dollar a ton in many cases will put the iron above considered in a form 
which evades the specific duty of I ^ to 2 cents per pound, and transfers it to the 
title of "manufactures not otherwise provided for", where the Treasury would receive 
from $15 to $16 per ton less than is now paid upon the plain hoop or bar iron. It 
surely will not be contended that this is fair. 

Interpretations of this character can not and ought not to be maintained. If 
the laws justify or demand such a construction, they ought to be amended in har- 
mony with the long-establislied principle of tariff legislation which imposes a higher 
rate of duty upon products of advanced manufacture than upon the crude or raw ma- 
terial or simpler form of production, the duty to be increased as the labor expended 
and skill bestowed are increased. This has been the controlling principle in the 
make-up of all general tariff laws. It is a just discrimination in favor of American 
labor and skill and against their cheaper rival. It was recognized as early as 1789, 
when the first tariff legislation in the United States was enacted. It was again as- 
serted in the Calhoun tariff of 1816; two years later — in 1818, and again in 1824, 
and has been repeatedly reasserted in the acts of 1832, 1833, 1842, 1846, 1857, and in 
the general act of March 2, 1861. A real affirmation of the same principle is found 
in the act of June 30, 1864, and in the now existing laws. 

What the industrial representatives of the United States, including both em- 
ployers and employes, demand of the law-making and law-interpreting power, is a 
full recognition of this great underlying principle of the American tariff system. 

The demand is a reasonable one and ought to be heeded. The Ways and 
Means Committee of the 46th Congress recommended the passage of a bill, which, 
it was thought would correct the evil in part, and render what are called the unjust 



5° Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



decisions of the Treasury Department impossible. The bill is a substitute for the 
one introduced by Mr. Townsend, of Ohio, upon the same subject, and is as follows: 

"A bill in relation to the duties on manufactures of iron, and so forth. 

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled. That the paragraph of section two, twenty-five 
hundred and four of the Revised Statutes which reads as follows: "Manufactures, 
articles, vessels and wares, not otherwise provided for, of brass, iron, lead, pewter and 
tin, other metal (except gold, silver, platina, copper, steel), or of which either of 
these metals shall be the component material of chief value, thirty-five per centum ad 
valorem," be, and the same is hereby amended, by adding thereto the following pro- 
viso: 

"Provided, That in no case shall the duty on any manufactured article be less 
than the duty upon the material of chief value from which it is manufactured." 

Unless some cure can be found for this injury to American industries great in- 
terests involving both capital and labor will be seriously crippled if not wholly de- 
stroyed. Treasury officials are not averse to a legal correction of this evil. Mr. Sher- 
man, the late Secretary of the Treasury, called the attention of Congress to this sub- 
ject, and recommended the enactment of a law which would preserve the correct 
principle of tarifif legislation. I do not doubt that the present Secretary of the Treas- 
ury will make a similar recommendation. With the decisions as we find them re- 
peatedly affirmed by succeeding Secretaries of the Treasury, as they have been, it oc- 
curs to me that the only true and practical remedy is with Congress. 

While in Washington in the spring of 1909, looking after 
Tariff matters, I became very well acquainted with Mr. J. H. 
Weirick. Mr. Weirick is at present one of Senator Dick's secre- 
taries, and during the session of the Fifty-first Congress, was secre- 
tary to Hon. Wm. D. Kelley. It was no doubt through Judge 
Kelley that McKinley was repeatedly brought to the front on the 
question of protection of American industries. Mr. Weirick's 
letter is herein copied: 

Speakership Question 

How Judge W. D. Kelley secured Chairmanship of Ways and Means Com- 
mittee for McKinley. 

After the Fifty-first Congress had been elected, Hon. Thomas B. Reed and 
Hon. William McKinley were the candidates for the Speakership. During the pre- 
liminary canvass friends of both were making every effort to land the prize. Among 
the ardent champions — possibly the most ardent — of Hon. William McKinley was 
Hon. William D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania — "Pig Iron" Kelley. 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 51 

In the summer of 1889 I accompanied Judge Kelley on a summer vacation to 
Star Island, one of the Isles of Shoals, and during our stay there the Judge mapped 
out his program for the contest for the pending Speakership. It was practically as 
follows : 

Judge Kelley conceded tiiat Mr. Reed would succeed to the Speakerslu'p, but 
the question uppermost in the mind of the Judge was, what would be tlie outcome of 
such an event with reference to the future political fortunes of William McKinley. 
The newspapers of the country commented spiritedly as to what would happen. In 
case Mr. Reed should succeed, where would Mr. McKiuley laud, and vice versa. 
The ranking position next to the Speakership in the House of Representatives is 
the Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, which appointment places that 
member in the position of leader of the dominant party on the floor of the House, 
and as Judge Kelley had been Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, no 
one assumed that he would be set aside, because he was the acknowledged champion 
of Protection and it was conceded by all that he was competent to frame the tariff 
legislation, the leading question at that time. 

Judge Kelley 's plan was that in the event of the election of Mr. Reed, which 
the Judge conceded, he would decline service in any capacity on the Committee on 
Ways and Means, and in that manner would be opened the way for Mr. Reed to ap- 
point Mr. McKinley Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, thereby plac- 
ing him as the leader of the Republicans on the floor of the House. He would have 
charge of the framing of the tariff bill, afterwards known as the "McKinley Bill of 
1890," and in that position would be, as stated by the Judge, in line for the Presi- 
dency. 

We came back to Washington shortly before the assembling of the Fifty-first 
Congress; Congress was convened, and Mr. Reed was elected Speaker. The Speaker 
was in a dilemma. A popular demand was made for the appointment of Judge Kelley 
to be placed at the head of the Committee on Ways and Means, and friends of Mr. 
McKinley demanded the place for him, so the Speaker was between two fires. After 
a few days. Judge Kelley, dictated to me a letter, addressed to Mr. Reed, declining to 
accept any assignment on the Committee on Ways and Means, and directed me to de- 
liver the letter into the hands of Mr. Reed. I did so, and after carefully reading it, 
the Speaker turned to me and said: 

"Mr. Weirick, Judge Kelley is a noble man. Of course, you know the con- 
tents of this letter; it relieves me from the most embarrassing position in which I 
was ever placed." 

Mr Reed told me to say to Judge Kelley, that he would answer him by letter 
and in person. Mr. McKinley was appointed Ciiairman of the Ways and Means 
Committee, and Judge Kelley was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Manu- 
factures. 



52 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

After my return to the hotel, Judge Kelley asked me to find Mr. McKinley 
and ask him to call on him. At that interview, he told Mr. McKinley of what he 
had written Mr. Reed, and added: 

"Now Mac, you will he Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, 
the leader of the party on the floor of the House ; you will frame a tariff bill ; and the 
result will be that you will receive the greatest reward that can be bestowed upon 
you by the American people. I will not be here to see it, but you have my blessing." 
History has confimied the prophecy made by Judge Kelley to me, on Star 
Island, in the summer of 1889. 

The Early Manufacture of Tin Plate 

Along in the 8o's, when McKinley was a candidate for Con- 
gress, he made a prediction in the Youngstown Opera House, which 
has since become true. At that time, not a pound of tin plate was 
made in America, but he made the assertion that the time would 
come when the United States would make all its own tin plate 
and would become a large exporter. In the calendar year in which 
he spoke, we imported 350,000 tons from Wales alone. 

As my good friend. Colonel J. G. Battelle, is more or less 
familiar with the early manufacture of tin plate and the connec- 
tion of McKinley therewith, I have asked him to prepare a state- 
ment, which is copied below, together with Colonel Battelle's letter, 
and letter from his assistant in business, Mr. J. H. Frantz: 

Columbus, O., June 17th, 1910. 
Colonel J. G. Butler, Jr., 

Stambaugh Building, 

Youngstown, Ohio. 
My dear Colonel: — 

Referring to your esteemed favor of the 8th ultimo, to Mr. Frantz our 
Vice President, wherein you requested him or myself to write the history of the 
making of the first tin plate — I enclose herewith an account of the "Making of 
Tin Plate in Piqua." 

There was other tin plate made in America previous to this, notably at a 
concern called the Valta Tin Plate Works, some years previous to the inauguration 
of the McKinley Tariff. 

Hoping the enclosure may prove satisfactory, I remain, 

Yours sincerely, 

(Signed) J. G. BATTELLE. 











^ Made from steeJ sheets rolled ' 
Ni>y The Piqua Rolling Mill, . 
^September 8th, 1891. 
^ Coated with California TinT- 
and Missouri Lead by The '^ 
^Cincinnati Corrugating Co., v? 
^bfPiqua. September 14th 1891 % 
, ^Vol an atom of foreign luelal ^ 
^in this plate. 3- 

McKinleyatPimSepUZM.'"^ 



'v))''!«"irti*vii>-">*"fe «"'«(-9.u'("-.i>>,v-% -'«"?'•■"■ 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 53 



f Enclosure.] 
In November, 1891, Major McKinlcy was candidate for the Governorship 
of Ohio, on the Republican ticket, his rival having advantage of being the then 
Governor — James K. Campbell — who was also a Civil War veteran and personally 
popular. 

Major McKinley was recognized as the Apostle of Protection — the effect of 
this was variously estimated, even by his friends, for he had just been defeated in 
his candidacy for Congress in his old district, and even some Republican politicians 
thought that the "farmers were tired of tariff discussions" and the results of the 
election for Governor very doubtful. 

At this time there were at Piqua, Ohio, a sheet rolling mill, corrugating and 
galvanizing works, operated by Colonel J. Ci. Hattelle, president and Mr. J. H. 
Frantz, secretary, who were keenly alive to this political situation and grateful to 
Major McKinley for his efforts on behalf of an adequate Protective Tariff. 

About this time a meeting was appointed at Piqua, to be addressed by 
Major McKinley, and it occurred to Colonel IJattcUe and Mr. Frantz that this 
would be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate their esteem for the Father of the 
Tin Plate Industry, by making some tin plate to decorate the stand where the orator 
spoke. 

There was one difficulty, there was no one then living in Piqua, who had ever 
seen tin plate made, and the opposition papers, who claimed to know all about it 
frankly informed the public that tin plate could not be made in America. 

This was discouraging, and made Messrs. Battelle and Frantz try to think — 
then they consulted their former galvanizer, Mr. McCabe, and other assistants, and 
finally a quantity of excellent roofing tin plates were made from which numerous 
badges were stamped proudly bearing the legend — 

"McKinley and Protection!" "Made from Ohio Steel, Missouri Lead and 
California Tin, without an atom of foreign metal!" 

Major McKinley assisted in making some of these tin plates. Needless to say 
the Piqua meeting was a great success. 

The next morning at Greenville, Ohio, Major McKinley 's clarion voice rang 
out the keynote for the balance of the campaign when he said: "Cannot make tin 
plate in America? Why, I made tin plate myself yesterday in Piqua." 

This became the only issue, the opposition claiming the Piqua incident a fake, 
but every lover of McKinley responded to the cry of the chief of the clan, — resent- 
ing the impeachment of his honor, following the Greenville keynote. 

Deep feeling was aroused through Ohio and also throughout the United States. 
For two weeks all of the leading dailies of New York City, even, had daily editorials 
on this most important political event of the time. No reading citizens throughout 
the country were without knowledge of Piqua Tin Plate. 

Experts estimated that it would have cost its makers over one hundred thou- 
sand dollars to obtain equal advertising, although that so obtained was unsolicited 
and not fully appreciated, as a whole. 

Piqua Tin Plate was awarded the first prize at the Chicago Fair of 1893. 
The greatest event of all was the first elccticm of McKinley to the Governor- 
ship of Ohio, on the Piqua Tin Plate Platform, initiated by loyal friendship, and 
made triumphantly successful by other loyal friends and lovers, whom uo man was 
ever such an inspiration as William McKinley. 



54 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



Columbus, Ohio, May loth, 1909. 
Colonel J. G. Butler, 

Youngstown, Ohio. 
My dear Colonel: — 

I am in receipt of your letter of the 8th and referred same to Colonel Battelle, 
who promises to get up some data for you in the line requested as soon as possible. 

I think probably you would like to have a badge which we got out at the time 
McKinley was in Piqua, 1 891, and I enclose you herewith last one I have. That 
will show you how much I think of you. 

With best regards, I am, 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) J. H. FRANTZ. 

The badge referred to is in my possession, attached to a white 
satin ribbon, and bears the following inscription: 

"made of ohio steel and california tin— 
Mckinley and protection— 

PIQUA— 1891" 

McKinley and Marcus A. Hanna 

I feel it not out of place to copy below, a letter which I wrote 
to Senator Hanna, soon after McKinley's first nomination. I also 
copy his reply: 

Youngstown, Ohio, July ist, 1896. 
My dear Mr. Hanna: — 

1 send herewith the copy of telegram together with a few brief but appre- 
ciative lines from one of your staunch friends and admirers. Please return and 
oblige. 

I may, I think, with propriety, add by letter that in my judgment the Ameri- 
can people owe you something that a great many generations cannot pay off. Of 
course, the people wanted McKinley; the political bosses didn't, and without the 
effective work you did, in cementing the sentiment together, there was a very great 
danger of his defeat for the nomination. It occurred to me a great many times, 
that j'ou were handling it about as you would go about consolidating a lot of iron 
plants — calling the states the equivalent of plants — some in good condition, some 
indifferent, and some very much out of repair. When you got through, all the 
furnaces had modern engines, brick stoves, high trestles for direct ores and pneurnatic 
pyrometers. The mills all had continuous trains and high speed engines, and the 
steel works all so modern that they could convert just a few tons more than their 
neighbors each day. 

There will still he a few repairs to make before November, and I most sin- 
cerely hope that your health will permit you to be the directing mind until the finality 
is reached and McKinley elected by one of the greatest majorities ever given a 
President. 

Very truly your friend, 

(Signed) J. G. BUTLER, JR. 



^' 


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Presidents I Have Seen and Knoivn 55 

Cleveland, Ohio, July 7th, 1896. 
J. G. Butler, Jr. Esq., 

Youngstoun, Ohio. 
My dear Joe: — 

I am in receipt of your kind letter of the ist inst., with enclosure which I 
herewith return. It is very pleasant to have the approval of so many of my fellow 
citizens, of what I have done for my party and the country, but it is particularly 
so to have it from those, who like yourself, have been my close friends for years, and 
who appreciate and do full justice to my motives. Therefore, I am glad to sub- 
scribe myself, 

Sincerely your friend, 

(Signed) M. A. HANNA. 

In a talk with Governor McKinley, at Canton, soon after his 
nomination to the Presidency and when there were no others pres- 
ent, he remarked that Mr. Hanna had been very kind and helpful; 
but he believed his nomination should be attributed to Providence. 

The Old White School House 

On August 27th, 1909, there was held at Niles — McKinley's 
birthplace — a re-union of the Old White School House pupils, 
which was an enjoyable affair. An account of the gathering, taken 
from the Niles Daily News of August 28th, appears below: 

The informal reception given by the members of that pro- 
gressive organization, the New Century Club, to the pupils of the 
Old AMiitc School House yesterday afternoon, was in every sense 
of the word a grand success. The afifair was held in the spacious 
apartments of the Niles Club, which were most fittingly decorated 
for the occasion. 

The program was arranged as the first annual reunion of the 
pupils of the Old White School House and each pupil was pre- 
sented with a neat souvenir in the form of a red silk badge, bearing 
that inscription. Mrs. Maria Kyle of Vienna Avenue, who was 
one of the teachers in that ancient house of learning, was presented 
a badge with a special design. The affair originated in the fertile 
mind of one of Niles' former citizens, now a resident of Youngs- 
town — Mr. J. G. Butler, Jr. It was Mr. Butler's request that the 
alTair be given under the auspices of the New Century Club, which 



56 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

is one of the city's leading organizations. The matter was taken up 
by the members of the club some short time ago, and although the 
time was short to prepare a lengthy program, they are to be compli- 
mented for the brilliant success they made of the important affair. 

The time was most agreeably spent by the members in relating 
the trials and tribulations of their boyhood and girlhood days to 
each other and quoting reminiscences of the early days. 

The club was anxious to obtain a list of signatures of those pres- 
ent, their age and present place of residence, and had printed sta- 
tionery on hand for that purpose. During the business proceedings 
of the meeting, the following letter was read, which was received 
by the club from Miss Helen McKinley, stating her regrets at be- 
ing unable to be present: 

To the New Century Club of Niles: — 

Your very kind invitation to my sister and myself to be present at the recep- 
tion of the pupils of the Old White school house just received, and we regret e.x- 
ceedingly that we cannot join in the celebration of that eventful occasion. , 

We will be with you in spirit. Wishing you all possible happiness and joy, 
now and always. 

Very sincerely, 

(Signed) HELEN McKINLEY. 
August 25th, 1909. 

The members of the New Century Club served a delicious 
menu of refreshments to their venerable guests before their depart- 
ure. This reunion will now be made an annual affair, and it may 
be said that at the instance of this popular organization, what will 
terminate in Niles' most important gathering in years to come, has 
been most successfully launched by them. 

A picture of the first teacher in the Old White School House 
was shown by one of the pupils present and was the source of 
much favorable comment. James Draa produced photos of the 
interior of the house of the great-great-grandfather of the late 
President McKinley, showing the habitation of the McKinley an- 
cestors in the Emerald Isle. 

The Century Club ladies extend their sincerest thanks for the 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 57 

use and voluntary donation of the rooms in which the reception 
was held; it being the ideal place on account of being the site of 
the residence where the late President was born. 

The following pupils of the Old White School House regis- 
tered at the reception, noting their ages and places of residence: 

Maria Kyle — 79 

Frank E. Shelar — 75 

Jacob Shelar — 75 

James Draa — 72 

Martha Kingsley Leslie — 74 

Lemuel Draa — 72 

Martha Wilson Draa — 72 

Daniel Seagraves — 72 

M. J. Lewis Drake — 67 

Prof. T. J. Bert— 52, Turtle Creek, Pa. 

C. McElwee Shelar— 68 

Maria Heaton — 68, Warren 

J. G. Butler, Jr. — 68, Youngstown 

Nancy St. John— 68 

Kathrene M. Ward — 65 

Phila Kingsley Biery — 66 

Alice Bennington Jones — 59 

Ann Benton — 63 

Mrs. M. G. Drake Ferguson — 45 

C. G. Harris — 47 

J. C. Tiefel— 50 

A. F. Harris — 49, Warren 

Mrs. Laura White — 59 

Mrs. Flora Br ice — 54 

Mrs. Lida Parker Tibbitts— 53 

J. S. Hunter — 59, Warren 

Eva Shelar Ashman 

Mrs. Louise Carter Whitehouse 



5^ Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

Last Speech of President McKinley 

Delivered at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, N. Y. on September 5th, 
1 901. 

President Milburn, Director General Buchanan, Commissioners, Ladies and 
Gentlemen : 

I am glad to be again in the city of Buffalo and exchange greetings with her 
people, to whose generous hospitality I am not a stranger, and with whose good 
will I have been repeatedly and signally honored. To-day I have additional satis- 
faction in meeting and giving welcome to the foreign representatives assembled here, 
whose presence and participation in this exposition have contributed in so marked 
a degree to its interest and success. To the commissioners of the Dominion of 
Canada and the British colonies, the French colonies, the republics of Mexico 
and of Central and South America, and the commissioners of Cuba and Porto Rico, 
who share with us in the undertaking, we give the hand of fellowship and felicitate 
with them upon the triumphs of art, science, education and manufacture, which the 
old has bequeathed to the new century. 

Expositions are the timekeepers of progress. They record the world's advance- 
ment. They stimulate the energy, enterprise and intellect of the people, and quicken 
human genius. They go into the home. They broaden and brighten the daily life 
of the people. They open might}' storehouses of information to the student. Every 
exposition, great or small, has helped to some onward step. Comparison of ideas 
is always educational, and as such, instructs the brain and hand of man. 

Friendly rivalry follows which is the spur to industrial improvement, the in- 
spiration to useful invention and to high endeavor in all departments of human 
activity. It exacts the study of the wants, comforts, and even the whims of the 
people, and recognizes the efficacy of high quality and new prices to win their favor. 
The quest for trade is an incentive to men of business to devise, invent, improve and 
economize in the cost of production. Business life, whether among ourselves, or 
with other people, is ever a sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less so 
in the future. Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy, antiquated 
processes of farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago, and 
the twentieth century would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century. 
But though commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies we must not be. 

The Pan-American Exposition has done its work thoroughly, presenting in its 
exhibits evidence of the highest skill and illustrating the progress of the human 
family in the Western Hemisphere. This portion of the earth has no cause for 
humiliation for the part it has performed in the march of civilization. It has not 
accomplished everything; far from it. It has simply done its best, and, without 
vanity or boastfulness, and recognizing the manifold achievements of others, it in- 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoun 



59 



vites the friendly rivalry of all the powers in the peaceful pursuits of trade and 
commerce and will co-operate with all in advancing the highest and best interests 
of humanity. The wisdom and energy of all the nations are none too great for 
the world's work. The success of art, science, industr)', and invention, is an interna- 
tional asset and a common glory. 

After all, how near one to the other is every part of the world! Modern 
inventions have brought into close relation widely separated peoples and have made 
them better acquainted. Geographic and political divisions will continue to exist, 
but distances have been eflfaced. Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmo- 
politan; they invade fields which a few years ago were impenetrable. The world's 
products are exchanged as never before, and with increasing transportation facilities 
come increasing knowledge and larger trade. Prices are fixed with mathematical 
precision by supply and demand. The w'orld's selling prices are regulated by market 
and crop reports. We travel greater distances in a shorter space of time and with 
more ease than was ever dreamed of by the fathers. Isolation is no longer possible 
or desirable. The same important news is read, though in different languages, the 
same day in all Christendom. The telegraph keeps us advised of what is occuring 
everywhere, and the press foreshadows, with more or less accuracy, the plans and 
purposes of nations. Market prices of products and securities are hourly known in 
every commercial mart, and the investments of the people extend beyond their own 
national boundaries into the remotest parts of the earth. 

Vast transactions are conducted and international exchanges arc made by the 
tick of the cable. Every event of interest is immediately bulletined. The quick 
gathering and transmission of news, like rapid transit, are of recent origin, and are 
only made possible by the genius of the inventor and the courage of the investor. 
It took a special messenger of the government, with every facility known at the 
time for rapid travel, nineteen days to go from the city of Washington to New 
Orleans with a message to General Jackson that the war with England had ceased, 
and that a treaty of peace had been signed. How different now! 

We reached General Miles in Porto Rico by cable, and he was able through 
the military telegraph to stop his army on the firing line with the message that the 
United States and Spain had signed a protocol suspending hostilities. We knew al- 
most instantly of the first shots fired at Santiago and the subsequent surrender of 
the Spanish forces was known at Washington within less than an hour of its con- 
summation. The first ship of Cervera's fleet had hardly emerged from that historic 
harbor when the fact was flashed to our capital, and the swift destruction that fol- 
lowed was announced immediately through the wonderful medium of telegraphy. 

So accustomed are we to safe and easy communication with distant lands, that 
its temporary' interruption, even in ordinary times, results in loss and inconvenience. 
We shall never forget the days of anxious waiting and awful suspense when no 



6o Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



information was permitted to be sent from Peking, and the diplomatic representa- 
tives of the nations in China, cut off from all communication, inside and outside the 
walled capital, were surrounded hy an angry and misguided mob that threatened 
their lives; nor the joy that thrilled the nation when a single message from the gov- 
ernment of the United States brought, through our minister, the first news of the 
safety of the besieged diplomats. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a mile of steam 
railroad on the globe. Now there are enough miles to make its circuit many times. 
Then there was not a line of electric telegraph ; now we have a vast mileage travers- 
ing all lands and all seas. 

God and man have linked the nations together. No nation can longer be in- 
different to any other. And as we are brought more and more in touch with each 
other, the less occasion is there for misunderstandings, and the stronger the disposi- 
tion, when we have differences, to adjust them in the court of arbitration, which is 
the noblest forum for the settlement of international disputes. 

My fellow citizens, trade statistics indicate that this country is in a state 
of unexampled prosperity. The figures are almost appalling. They show that we 
are utilizing our fields and forests and mines and that we are furnishing profitable 
employment to the millions of workingmen throughout the United States, bringing 
comfort and happiness to their homes, and making it possible to lay by savings for 
old age and disability. That all the people are participating in this great prosperity 
is seen in every American community, and shown by the enormous and unprecedented 
deposits in our savings banks. Our duty is the care and security of these deposits, 
and their safe investment demands the highest integrity and the best business capacity 
of those in charge of these depositories of the people's earnings. 

We have a vast and intricate business, built up through years of toil and 
struggle, in which every part of the country has its stake, which will not permit of 
either neglect, or of undue selfishness. No narrow, sordid policy will subserve 
it. The greatest skill and wisdom on the part of the manufacturers and producers 
will be required to hold and increase it. Our industrial enterprises which have 
grown to such great proportions affect the homes and occupations of the people 
and the welfare of the country. Our capacity to produce has developed so enormous- 
ly, and our products have so multiplied that the problem of more markets requires 
our urgent and immediate attention. Only a broad and enlightened policy will keep 
what we have. No other policy will get more. In these times of marvelous business 
energy and gain, we ought to be looking to the future, strengthening the weak places 
in our industrial and commercial systems, that we may be ready for any storm or 
strain. 

By sensible trade arrangements, which will not interrupt our home production, 
we shall extend the outlets for our increasing surplus. A system which provides 



Presidents I Have Seen and Kno^cn 6i 



a mutual exchanp;e of commodities is manifestly essential to the continued and health- 
ful growth of our export trade. We must not repose in fancied security that we can 
forever sell everything and buy little or nothing. If such a thing were possible, 
it would not be best for us or for those with whom we deal. We should take from 
our customers such of their products as we can use without harm to our industries 
and labor. Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial devel- 
opment under the domestic policy now firmly established. What we produce beyond 
our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad. The excess must be relieved 
through a foreign outlet, and we should sell everywhere we can, and buy wherever 
the buying will enlarge our sales and production, and thereby make a greater demand 
for home labor. 

The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade and com- 
merce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable. A policy of 
good will and friendly trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties 
are in harmony w-ith the spirit of the times; measures of retaliation are not. 

If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed, for revenue or to en- 
courage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to 
extend and promote our markets abroad? Then, too, we have inadequate steamship 
service. New lines of steamers have already been put in commission between the 
Pacific ports of the United States and those on the western coast of Mexico and 
Central and South America. These should be followed up with direct steamship 
lines between the eastern coast of the United States and South American ports. 
One of the needs of the times is direct commercial lines from our vast fields of pro- 
duction to the fields of consumption that we have but barely touched. 

Next in advantage to having the thing to sell, is to have the convenience to 
carry it to the buyer. We must encourage our merchant marine. 

We must have more ships. They must be under the American flag, built and 
manned and owned by Americans. These will not only be profitable in a commercial 
sense; they vvill be messengers of peace and amity wherever they go. We must build 
the Isthmian Canal, which vvill unite the two oceans and give a straight line of 
water communication with the western coasts of Central and South America and 
Mexico. The construction of a Pacific cable cannot longer be postponed. 

In the furtherance of these objects of national interest and concern, you are 
performing an important part. This exposition would have touched the heart of 
that American statesman whose mind was ever alert and thought ever constant 
for a larger commerce and a truer fraternity of the republics of the new world. His 
broad American spirit is felt and manifested here. He needs no identification to 
an assemblage of Americans anywhere, for the name of Blaine is inseparably asso- 
ciated with the Pan-American movement, which finds this practical and substantial 
expression, and which we all hope will be firmly advanced by the Pan-American 



62 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

Congress that assembles this autumn in the capital of Mexico. The good work 
will go on. It cannot be stopped. These buildings will disappear; this creation of 
art and beauty and industry will perish from sight, but their influence will remain to 

Make it live beyond its too short living, 
With praises and thanksgiving. 

Who can tell the new thoughts that have been awakened, the ambitions fired 
and the high achievements that will be wrought through this exposition? Gentle- 
men, let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not conflict, and that our 
real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war. We hope that all 
who are represented here will be moved to higher and nobler effort for their own 
and the world's good and that out of this city may come, not only greater commerce 
and trade for us all, but, more essential than these relations of mutual respect, 
confidence and friendship which will deepen and endure. 

Our earnest prayer \-z that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, 
and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of 
the earth. 

The Proposed Monument 

Although there is a fine monument at Canton, O., erected to 
the memory of the late President, I have for some time past had 
in mind the raising of a fund to erect a Monument and Memorial 
Hall at McKinley's birthplace, Niles, O. I have received much 
encouragement from such prominent men as President Taft, Judge 
E. H. Gary, Mr. James M. Swank of the American Iron and Steel 
Association, Governor Myron T. Herrick, Willis L. King, and 
others. I intend to proceed with this work, and feel confident of 
being able to raise a substantial sum, part of which will be invested 
in a fire-proof Memorial Hall, where relics of the late President 
may be seen, and taken care of. 

The old homestead at Canton was sufifered to pass out of the 
hands of the family, and is now used as a hospital. The people of 
Canton should never have permitted this. When the homestead was 
sold, the relics were scattered, and I hope to remedy this, in part at 
least, by the erection of the Memorial Hall at Niles. 




J^^fL^ 



/\^CT-y:nX-e^i,-C^C^f-~ 




Theodore Roosevelt 1 901-1908 

HE FIRST time I met President Roosevelt was in the 
Philadelphia convention previously mentioned. He was 
one of the delegates from New York state, being Gov- 
ernor, and had a seat almost immediately in front of 
mine. I was in favor of his nomination for Vice-Presi- 
^^^^^ dent against the wishes of nearly all the other delegates 
—"—^—^ from our state. I got quite well acquainted with him, 
and he gave me to understand, that he supposed the Ohio delega- 
tion, of which Senator Hanna was at the head, was against him. 
I thought it was good politics to nominate him and worked to that 
end, and Had a small part in securing his agreement to accept the 
nomination. 

I have since met President Roosevelt at the White House and 
at Canton, and have had considerable correspondence with him. 

I saw him last at the White House and said good-bye to him 
on the last day of his term of office. 

His trip to the wilds of Africa, and his enthusiastic reception 
by the Powers of the earth, are already history. 

No potentate, from the beginning of time down to the present, 
has received greater honor than this plain American citizen. 

His return to his native land is looked forward to with various 
degrees of interest, curiosity, emotion, as well as great expectations. 
Colonel Roosevelt is admittedly the best asset today of the 
Republican party. Whether this asset can be realized upon, re- 
mains to be seen. 

The Strenuous Life 

(Part of speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, on April loth, 1899.) 

In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the state 
which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who pre-eminently and dis- 
tinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to 
preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the 
life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success 
which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does 
not shrink from danger, from hardship or from bitter toil, and who out of these 
wins the splendid ultimate triumph. 



64 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack 
either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a 
nation as of an individual. I ask only that what every self-respecting American de- 
mands from himself and from his sons shall be demanded of the American nation 
as a whole. Who among you would teach your boys that ease, that peace, is to be 
the first consideration in their eyes — to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? 
You men of Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your 
share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you neither 
preach nor practice such a doctrine. You work yourselves and you bring up your 
sons to work. If you are rich and are worth your salt, you will teach your sons 
that though they may have leisure, it is not to be spent in idleness; for wisely used 
leisure merely means that those who possess it, being free from the necessity of 
working for their livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of non- 
remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in historical research 
— work of the type we most need in this country, the successful carrying out of 
which reflects most honor upon the nation. 

We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies 
victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a 
friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of 
actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In 
this life we get nothing save by effort. 

In the last analysis a healthy state can exist only when the men and women 
who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained 
that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them ; not to 
seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk. The man must 
be glad to do a man's work, to dare and to endure and to labor; to keep himself 
and to keep those dependent upon him. The woman must be the housewife, the 
helpmeet of the homemaker, the wise and fearless mother of many healthy children. 

I preach to you then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the life 
of ease but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms before 
us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen 
slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must 
win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder 
and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the domination 
of the world. Let us, therefore, boldly face the life of strife, resolute to uphold 
righteousness by deed and by word ; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve 
high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, 
moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the 
strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, 
that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness. 









/^^; 




William H. Taft 1908 

LTHOUGH I had considerable to do with managing 
political affairs in Mahoning county when President Taft 
was elected, and had had a great deal of correspondence 
with him, strange to say 1 never had met him previous 
to his coming to Youngstown on November 2, 1908. I 
went to Cleveland as a special envoy to meet him and 
ascertain with definiteness with reference to entertaining 
him, and first met him on the special car from Cleveland to 
Youngstown. I might say at this point that no city in the country 
other than Youngstown has had the distinguished honor both to 
open and close a Presidential campaign. The campaign of 
1908 which resulted in the election of William H. Taft to the 
Presidency, was formally opened by the Republicans in that city 
on Saturday, September 5. The speakers on this occasion were 
Governor Andrew H. Harris, Hon. Charles E. Hughes, after- 
ward Governor of New York, and Senator Albert J. Beveridge. 
The speech of Governor Harris on this occasion touching upon the 
liquor question, it is believed, aided largely in defeating him for 
the Governorship of Ohio. The same campaign was closed by 
the Presidential nominee, Mr. Taft, in a great meeting on Novem- 
ber 2. 

There can be no question of President Taft's honesty, integrity 
and ability, and the experience he has had should make him one 
of our best Presidents. I was one of the party who entertained him 
at the Youngstown Club on the evening of November 2, was chair- 
man of the meeting at the Park Theatre, and introduced him to 
the vast audience as "the next President of the United States," mak- 
ing the third time in my own life and the history of Youngstown 
in which I have introduced gentlemen, two of them then running 
for President and not as yet elected, as "the next President of the 
United States"; the third was on his way to be inaugurated. 

President Taft is having a hard row to hoe — so to speak. He 
is perhaps the subject of more criticism than any President since 
Washington, but he goes on in the even tenor of his way, and al- 



66 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

though somewhat sensitive to criticism, he rises above it. He is 
persistent, and I feel sure that his popularity will increase and the 
wisdom of his administration become more and more apparent. 
He sticks by his friends to his own detriment. 

Let us all, as good citizens — regardless of party — give him help 
and bid him "God speed" to the end that the country may continue 
to prosper and the United States stand out preeminently as the 
greatest World Power. 

What Taft has Accomplished 

Even a cursory glance at what has come to pass in the two 
years that President Taft has been in office will serve to show the 
astonishingly large number of important things that President Taft 
has accomplished. He has shown singular knowledge of men in 
his appointments, or has been unusually lucky in his selections, 
for not once has the finger of scorn been pointed at one of them 
because of dishonesty. He has rounded out and straightened away 
many of the "legacies" left him by his predecessor, and he has done 
this without the use of the "Big Stick". He has seen to enforcing 
laws already on the statute books but whicB heretofore have been 
lifeless. He has surrounded himself in his official family with a 
number of the best lawyers in the country. The fact that these 
members of the bar were formerly employed by the large corpora- 
tions is to their credit and to his, as the corporations employ only 
the best brains obtainable. Every one of these men, impelled by 
a patriotic sense of duty, made sacrifices of both personal and fi- 
nancial character to serve their country. The President, immediately 
after his inauguration, plunged into the thick of afifairs and here 
are some of the great measures he aided in making effective: 

The enactment of the Payne law; the best revenue producer 
of any tariff passed by an American Congress; with a decided 
"revision downward." 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 67 

The Railroad Rate bill; most important, as it makes effective 
the Federal policy to control railroad rates, and compels the rail- 
roads to secure the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion before advancing rates. 

In connection with the railroad bill, the establishment of a 
Commerce Court. 

The appointment of a permanent Tariff Board, to ascertain 
comparative costs and remedy defects, if any, in the present law. 

Appointment of a special committee to investigate the extent 
of railroad stock "watering." 

The establishment of the Postal Savings Banks; making it 
absolutely safe for small depositors to take care of their surplus 
earnings. 

Granting separate statehood to Arizona and New Mexico. 

A progressive naval program; including the construction of 
two 27,000 ton battleships. 

The authorization of $20,000,000 bond issue, to complete 
irrigation projects, and the preservation of the natural forests. 

The creation of a Bureau of Mines, a very important piece of 
legislation. 

The establishment of a permanent committee on public ex- 
penditures. Heretofore this has been done at haphazard. This 
committee should insure vast economies in handling Government 
expenditures. 

An appropriation of $100,000 to assist in bettering the Gov- 
ernment departmental methods. 

The Agricultural Department has been strengthened. 

The Corporation Tax law has been passed. If this is held 
to be legal it will bring an immense revenue without any great 
burden upon any one else. 

The great business interests of the country have the personal 
sympathy of President Taft, and so long as they keep within the 
law, these interests will receive his hearty support. 



68 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



The President has stimulated new interest in foreign com- 
merce; more particularly with South America. 

The President has heartily endorsed the Merchant Marine. 
Unless something is done in this direction, the American flag will 
be wiped off the Pacific ocean. Japan has to-day more than 500 
vessels on the Pacific flying the Japanese flag. The United States 
has just nine, flying the American flag. 

Federal Courts 

(Part of address delivered before the Virginia Bar Association, Hot Springs, 
Va. on Aug. 6, 1908.) 

The chief reason why the State devotes so much time and effort in the adminis- 
tration of justice is to promote the cause of peace and tranquility in the community. 
Speaking theoretically and ideally, of course, our aim is to secure equal and exact 
justice; but practically, the object sought is peace. 

The present is a time when all our institutions are being subjected to close 
scrutiny with a view to the determination whether we have not now tried the institu- 
tions upon which modern society rests to the point of proving that some of them should 
be radically changed. The chief attack is on the institution of private property and 
is based upon the inequalities in the distribution of wealth and of human happiness 
that are apparent in our present system. As I have had occasion in other places to 
say frequently, I believe that, among human institutions, that of private property, next 
to personal liberty, has had most to do with the uplifting and the physical and moral 
improvement of the whole human race, but that it is not inconsistent with the rights 
of private property to impose limitations upon its uses for unlawful purposes, and 
that this is the remedy for reform rather than the abolition of the institution itself. 
But this scrutiny of our institutions, this increasing disposition to try experiments, to 
see whether there is not some method by which human happiness may be more equally 
distributed than it is, ought to make those of us who really believe in our institu- 
tions as essential to further progress, anxious to remove real and just ground for 
criticism in our present system. 

I venture to think that one evil which has not attracted the attention of the 
community at large, but which is likely to grow in Importance as the inequality be- 
tween the poor and the rich in our civilization is studied, is in the delay in the ad- 
ministration of justice between individuals. * * * 

The complaints that the courts are made for the rich and not for the poor have 
no foundation in fact in the attitude of the courts upon the merits of any controversy 
which may come before them, for the judges of this country are as free from preju- 
dice in this respect as it is possible to be. But the inevitable effect of the delays 
incident to the machinery now required in the settlement of controversies in judicial 
tribunals is to oppress and put at a disadvantage the poor litigant and give great 
advantage to his wealthy opponent. I do not mean to say that it is possible, humanly 
speaking, to put them on an exact equality in regard to litigation; but it Is certainly 
possible to reduce greatly the disadvantage under which the man of little means labors 
in vindicating or defending his rights In court under the existing system, and courts 



Presidents I Have Seen and Known 69 



and legislatures could devote tlicmsclves to no higher purpose than the elimination 
from the present system of those of its provisions which tend to prolong the time in 
which judicial controversies are disposed of. 

The Republican View of Labor 

(Portion of address delivered before the Taft Club of Athens, Ohio, 
August 29, 1908.) 

I have issued injunctions in labor cases, there is no doubt about that, and 1 
have done it because the rights of the plaintiff entitled him to an injunction, and 
when I am on the Bench and enforcing the law, 1 enforce it, and I don't make any 
apologies for it. It has been my lot to sit in labor cases, to sit in anti-trust cases. 
When I am a judge on the Bench, in so far as I can, 1 decide cases according to the 
law and the facts, no matter whom it hurts, because I believe that to be my sworn 
duty. 

Now it has been my lot to lay down the rules with respect to the rights of 
labor in two or three cases, and 1 refer to those cases as a full statement of what 1 
believe the rights of labor to be with reference to its employment. Labor has the right 
to unite in organizations for the purpose of looking after the united interest of labor 
in its controversy with capital, because if it did not unite, and was not permitted to 
unite, then it would lie hopeless. Laborers have the right not only to unite but to 
contribute funds which in times when they wish to leave the employ of their em- 
ployer when they do not like his terms, may support their fellow-members. They 
have the right to appoint officers who shall control their action if they choose. They 
have the right to invite all other laborers to unite with them in their controversy, and 
to withdraw, if tliey choose, from association with their employer. But they have not 
the right to injure their employer's property; they have not the right by what is 
called a "secondary boycott, " to invite a third person into the controversy who wishes 
to keep out, by threatening a boycott with him unless he assists them in the fight. In 
this fight between employer and the employe, or the united employes, they must fight 
it out between themselves, and they must not involve the rest of the community in 
it by a system of duress. This law, I believe, is a fair law, and being a fair law, 
when I was on the Bench I attempted to enforce it. With reference to injunctions, 
the question has been raised as to notices, wliethcr an injunction ought to issue with- 
out notice. It is a fundamental principle of law that no man ought to be affected to 
his detriment in a judicial action without notice and hearing, and therefore, the 
ordinary rule was, in the United States court, in the judiciary act years ago, that no 
temporary injunction could issue without notice; but there arose a few cases, as for 
instance where a man was in charge of property and was cutting down a tree, and the 
owner wanted to save the tree, and unless he got his injunction served upon that man 
before the tree was cut down, he could not save the tree. He could get damages, 
but the damages did not compensate him at all for the tree. So in such a case, an 
exception was introduced, and it is a very rare case. Now generally, I think in labor 
cases the character of the damage done by those workingmen who are lawless is not 
of that character which is like the cutting down of a tree, but the damage done 
arises from a constant nagging and a constant repetition, and generally in such cases 
there is no reason why notice should not be given before a restraining order shall be 
issued. * * * 



70 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 



It is said I introduced the injunction first in labor cases. That gives me too 
much credit for ingenuity and too great honor as an inventor of judicial proceedings. 
If you will examine authorities, you will find that there are a number of cases before 
I issued any injunction at all, and that I merely followed precedent in doing so. I 
am not apologizing for that. I am merely telling you the fact. What I believe, 
gentlemen, is that there ought to be no favored class in litigation at all, that a man 
who has property and a man who has labor to sell shall stand on an equality in court, 
and that every man shall be entitled to be protected by all the writs and remedies that 
the law affords, by an impartial judiciary, and that whether he be a laborer or a 
business man, or the owner of property, he is entitled to have his rights protected by 
all the writs that the law affords. * * * 

Now, gentlemen, there is only one issue between the wage-earner and the em- 
ployer, and that is as to the terms of employment, the size of the wages, and the 
length of the hours of the day, but that aside, the interest of the wage-earner is even 
greater than the interest of the capitalist in having capital earn a good reward, be- 
cause when it does earn a good reward, you can count on the continued and progressive 
investment of capital, and that means a greater demand for labor ; that means greater 
wages for labor, and it means therefore, greater comfort and pleasure and enjoyment 
for all of us. 

Now I have said something about the organization of labor. I am in favor 
of the organization of labor, because I believe that in that single controversy that 
arises between capital and labor, the organization of labor has enabled them to pre- 
vent the reduction of wages too quickly under a falling market. The employer nat- 
urally looks around for economies and finds that he can make some saving by reduc- 
ing wages. They can hold back and retard him in reducing the wages; then, on a 
rising market, when profits are increasing, they can hasten the increase in wages. To 
that extent the organization of labor is most useful to the laboring people. More 
than that, it is most useful in facilitating the passage of such laws as we have seen 
in the last Congress — the child labor law, the law with respect to employers' liability, 
the compensation to government employes' acts, the safety appliance law and all those 
things move when the labor organizations get together and ask Congress to have them 
passed, and therefore, it is wise that they should organize. That gives them great 
power, and they must exercise that power within the law exactly as combinations of 
capital exercise their power within the law, and those of us, the middlemen between 
them, have the right to insist that both combinations shall keep within the law, and 
that we shall have courts with sufficient power and sufficient support from the public 
at large to see that both combinations do keep within the law. 

In Defense of The Philippine Policy 

(Addressed to the cidzens of Norwood, O., at the Sinton Hotel, September 
19, 1908 

When the Spanish War ended, and we were in potential control of the archi- 
pelago, there was only one of three courses for us to pursue; either to turn the 
islands back to Spain, to turn them over to Aguinaldo and his army, or to take 
them under our sovereignty. The first course would have been unfair to the 
Filipinos, who with us engaged in a war to drive Spain out of the islands, and as 



Presidents I Have Seen and Knoun 



allies they were entitled to an arrangement which should not bring them again within 
the control of Spain. We could not turn the islands over to Aguinaldo, because 
he had attempted to govern them for eight or nine months under our observation and 
the government had miserably failed. The tyranny and corruption of it quite ex- 
ceeded that of the Spanish government, of which so much complaint was made by 
the Filipinos. There was nothing for us to do, therefore, but to assume responsi- 
bility ourselves, take over the government, and to enter upon the altruistic policy of 
educating the people in every way possible, giving them practice in governing them- 
selves, so that step by step they might be advanced toward the ideal of a self-govern- 
ing people. 

The people were suspicious, and did not believe in the announcement of the 
McKinley policy of attraction, and a war of insurrection against the United States 
was begun by Aguinaldo and his supporters, which it became necessary, for the 
tranquility of the government, for the United States to put down. An army was 
raised and the war put down. Tranquility was restored by the use of the army, and 
also by the carrying out of the policy of attraction by establishing autonomy in the 
municipalities, partial autonomy in the provinces, and by giving Filipinos representa- 
tives in the Commission conducting the central government. This was done before 
the insurrection was ended, and was largely the cause of its complete cessation. * * * 

Ninety per cent, of the people of the Philippine Islands are densely ignorant. 
It is this state of ignorance which unfits them for popular self-government. Edu- 
cation is their first need. We sent for one thousand American school teachers to 
begin the work. We decided to teach the youth of the islands English, because it is 
the language of free institutions; it is the language which most of the people desire 
their children to learn, it is the business language of the Orient, and it is the lan- 
guage of the countr}^ which is assisting the Filipinos to their feet. By earnest ei?ort, 
the one thousand teachers brought over have taught English to six or seven thousand 
Filipino teachers, and they in turn are carrying on the primary schools of the islands, 
under the supervision of American superintendents. There are today in the schools 
of the islands upward of 500,000 children reading, writing and reciting in English. 
The system is not extensive enough, but we are limited by our means. If the United 
States were to give us three or four millions of dollars a year, we could use it 
economically and carry on a school system which would probably make room for all 
the youth of school age in the islands. * * * 

The truth is that our treatment of the Philippines, our recognition of the 
rights of the people there, our attempt to teach them practical self-government, our 
exaltation of the individual, have had an excellent effect throughout the Orient. It 
is felt in China; it is felt in India. We are pioneers in spreading the western civiliza- 
tion in the East. 

My last meeting with President Taft was on Saturday, Oct. 22, 
1910, when a delegation composed of a number of members of the 
American Iron and Steel Institute and guests from abroad called 
on the President. The party, after attending the first formal meet- 



72 Presidents I Have Seen and Known 

ing of the Institute, had visited the important manufacturing plants 
at Bufifalo, Chicago and Pittsburg and was concluding the week's 
tour by a visit to Washington. The delegation included about 
seventy-five manufacturers of iron and steel, representing the im- 
portant corporations and firms engaged in the industry in both 
the new and old world. The President received them in the East 
room, the visitors being headed by Judge E. H. Gary, who pre- 
sented a short but comprehensive and instructive address. The 
President in his reply showed marked familiarity with basic condi- 
tions governing the iron and steel industry, pointing out that iron 
and steel production is undoubtedly the barometer of general busi- 
ness and that through the new uses to which steel is being applied 
in replacing wood, now becoming so scarce, there will continue 
to be an ever increasing demand for the products of the blast fur- 
nace and the mill. 

The President having finished his response, the visitors were 
presented personally to him. 1 was near the end of the line, and 
when the President recognized me he greeted me very cordially. 
At the close of the reception, 1 had a few moments' conversation 
with him relative to the proposed Memorial and monument at 
JNiles, (J., to President McKinley. President Taft assured me of 
his cordial approval of the project and added that he would be 
glad to write a commendatory letter respecting the plan. A few 
days later, Oct. 28, 1 received the following from him: 

Endorses McKinley Memorial 

I heartily sympathize with this movement, and hope that it may have the success 
which its object deserves. William McKinley was a man whom it was a great pleas- 
ure and inspiration to know. His high patriotism, his steadfastness of purpose and 
devotion to duty, his gentleness, his cheering optimism, all endeared him to those who 
came in personal touch with him as well as to the general public, who acquired their 
knowledge of him from his long service to the country. He was a man who rose to 
the exigency, and whose capacity and greatness impressed themselves upon everyone, 
even his intimates, as the crisis in the country's welfare developed. The demands of 
the Spanish War and the enormous responsibilities that followed it, called out his 
innate abilities and seemed to expand them in a marvelous way. 

With best wishes, believe me. 

Sincerely yours, 

(Signed) WM. H. TAFT. 

Mr. Joseph G. Butler, Jr., 



A Day in Washington's 
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A Day In Washington's Country 

]VERY patriotic American knows tliat the ancestors of 
the immortal George Washington, "hrst in war, hrst in 
peace, and hrst in the hearts of his countrymen," came 
from England; but few know the exact locality whence 
they came, and a still smaller number ever visited the 
region. \\ hile in England during the month of August 
last, 1 was attracted by an advertisement of one of the 
many tours running in all directions from London, "A DAY IN 
WASHINGTOJN'S COUNTRY." 1 immediately decided to 
make the journey to die places where the ancestors of our hrst 
President were born, where they lived, where they worshipped, 
where they died, and where they are buried. 

The day, August i8th, was bright and pleasant. The train 
left Euston station, London, early in the morning with a special 
car attached for Northampton, eighty-two miles distant. From the 
extensive advertising given the excursion, I expected to have a score 
at least, of Americans, as fellow travelers as anxious as 1 to visit 
tlie promised land. My surprise was great when it was made 
known to me that I was the sole excursionist, or, if 1 may so express 
it, the one American patriot mustered in for that particular day. 
However, 1 am pleased to add, the London & Northwestern Rail- 
way Company carried out the terms of the round-trip contract with 
the same exactness and fidelity as if the party had been of large 
dimensions. Reaching NORTHAMPTON, a very competent guide 
met the train, and after a diligent quest, failed to discover the 
large party expected. 

I was taken through and around the historic town after which 
Northampton, Mass., is named — the home of one of our great 
American women's colleges. A word in passing about Northamp- 
ton — a county borough, under the government of a mayor and 
town council. The mayoralty is an ancient ofhce, running back 
to the latter part of the twelfth century. Laurence Washington, 
great-great-grandfather of George Washington, was mayor in 1533 



yS A Day in Washington's Country 

and again in 1556, serving two terms at different periods. The 
town dates back to Roman occupation, and the remains of the 
ancient Roman wall are shown. The town is also mentioned in 
Domesday Book as Northamtone. Saxon, Dane and Norman suc- 
cessively occupied the territory and many events prominent in 
English history are associated and connected with the locality. 
Danes' Camp is shown the visitor and Bishop Thomas a Becket's 
Well is walled in and pointed out, where the great saint and martyr 
took a drink before his final flight, disguised as a monk; all of 
which is set forth in history and tradition. The place contains a 
number of ancient churches, two of which are quite noted, St. 
Peter's and All Saints', both dating from the twelfth century. I 
copied this inscription from the outside of the front wall of All 
Saints' church: 

Here under lyeth 
John Bailes Born in this 

Town, he was above 126 

years old & had his hearing, 
Sight and Memory to ye last 

He lived in 3 Centurys, 
& was buried ye 14th of Apr. 
1706. 

I was shown two very ancient houses, one known as The Welsh 
House, and the other as Cromwell's House. I copied from the 
principal window in the Welsh House, this motto, in Welsh: 

"Heb Dyw. Heb Dym. Dwya Digon, i. e., 1595." 

Which rendered into English reads: 

"Without God, without everything, God and enough." 

The Cromwell House is where Cromwell slept the night before 
the Battle of Naseby, which is commemorated by a fine monument 
erected over the battlefield a few miles distant. 

Among other noted places, I saw "Queen Eleanor's Cross," 
about one mile from the town, erected by King Edward I, in the 







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A Day in JJ'ashington's Country 79 

thirteenth century, the main reason for the cross being to induce 
passersby to pause and pray for the eternal welfare of the soul of 
the beloved queen. There also is St. John's Hospital, founded in 
1 183, still in use and in good repair; and Abington Abbey, dating 
from the fourteenth century and of particular historic interest by 
reason of its early ownership. Sir John Bernard married, for his 
second companion, Elizabeth, the daughter of Susannah Shakes- 
peare's eldest daughter, the wife of Dr. Hall of Stratford-on-Avon; 
so that one of the descendants of the great Bard of Avon lived in 
the abbey as its last mistress. David Garrick, the great actor of 
the eighteenth century, planted a mulberry tree upon the lawn, 
which still lives and produces fruit, and is duly authenticated by 
a bronze plate, properly inscribed. 

Much space would be taken up in recording even a brief 
reference to the many historical places and incidents interwoven 
into the history of Northampton, and incidentally, into the history 
of England, so we pass on. 

After the tour through the town with the guide, we lunched 
at the George Hotel, an ancient hostelry with a decided Dickens 
flavor. After luncheon, a large, first-class automobile, or motor, 
as it is called in England, was placed at my disposal. With a 
competent chauffeur and with the guide as a fellow passenger, the 
journey was resumed. 

Our first stop was at the little village of Ecton, five miles from 
Northampton, where was born Josiah Franklin, who married young 
and emigrated with his wife and three children to New England 
in 1682. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was the youngest son of Josiah 
Franklin, by a second marriage. We found in the little churchyard 
a Franklin gravestone, inscribed as follows: 

HERE LYETH THE BODY OF THOMAS 
FRANKLIN.WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE 
JANUARY 6th, ANNO DOM. 1702, IN THE 
SIXTY-FIFTH YEAR OF HIS AGE. 



8o A Day in Washington's Country 

I saw the cottage where the ancestors of Franklin were born, 
still in a good state of preservation. After the property was per- 
mitted to pass out of the hands of the Franklin family, the cottage 
was enlarged and made over into a school, and is still known as 
the Franklin School. During our Revolutionary troubles. Dr. 
Franklin spent much of his time in England and France, and always 
visited Ecton at each returning visit; but, notwithstanding these 
visits, the property and ancestral home were acquired by strangers. 

Our next halt was at ALTHRUP HOUSE, the home of the 
Spencer family and famous for its magniticent collection of paint- 
ings, the gallery containing examples by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
Gainsborough, VanDyck, Holbein, Murillo, Raphael, Romney, 
Rubens, and others of equal reputation. The Earl of Spencer had 
just died and his remains were lying in state at the time of the 
visit. As we passed through, the churchyard, his grave was being 
dug, as it was his last request that he be buried alongside his wife, 
although all his ancestors are entombed in the nave of Great Bring- 
ton church, dating back to the thirteenth century. The Spencer 
monuments are all in good condition and illustrate the costumes of 
the various periods. In this same church, are buried members of 
the Washington family. In the chancel is a funeral slab, dedicated 
to the memory of Laurence Washington, who died in 1616, and at 
the foot of the slab are carved these lines: 

THOU THAT BY CHANCE OR CHOYCE 

OF THIS HATH SIGHT, 
KNOW LIFE TO DEATH RESIGNS AS 

DAY TO NIGHT; 
BUT AS THE SUNNS RETORNE REVIVES 

THE DAY 
SO CHRIST SHALL US, THOUGH 

TURNED TO DUST AND CLAY. 

The slab was broken and part of the inscription was illegible, 
but the care-taker informed us that the death of Margaret Butler, 
wife of Laurence Washington was also recorded, and that her 
remains were buried beside her husband. In any event, history 




Thk Washinctox Manor 
oaken stairway to second floor 



A Day in Jf'ashington's Country 8i 

records that this Laurence Washington's wife's maiden name was 
Butler. 

In the chancel is another memorial slab, recording the death 
of Robert Washington, brother of Laurence, and his wife, Elizabeth 
Washington, bearing this inscription: 



HERE LIES INTERRED YE BODIES OF 
ELIZAB. WASHINGTON WIDDOWE, 
WHO CHANGED THIS LIFE FOR IMOR- 
TALLITIE YE 19th OF MARCH, 1622. AS 
ALSO YE BODY OF ROBERT WASHING- 
TON GENT. HER LATE HUSBAND 
SECOND SONNE OF ROBERT WASHING- 
TON OF SOLGRAVE IN YE COUNTY OF 
NORTH ESQ. WHO DEPARTED THIS 
LIFE YE loTH OF MARCH 1622, AFTER 
THEY LIVED LOVINGLY TOGETHER. 



Robert Washington, as the monument shows, had a "Roosevelt" 
family, eight sons and nine daughters. Two of the sons became 
respectively Sir John Washington, knight, of Thrapston, and the 
Rev. Laurence Washington, rector of Purleigh, Essex, whose eldest 
son, John, emigrated to America in 1657 and was the great-grand- 
father of George Washington, the President. Both the slabs re- 
ferred to bear the Washington coat of arms, the distinguishing 
features of which arc three mullets and two bars (stars and bars). 

In this connection a letter received from the rector of Great 
Brington church is copied, or rather that portion referring to the 
Washington ancestry. The letter is in response to one I wrote, 
asking for information as to the official parish records: 



82 A Day in Washington's Country 



Great Brington Rectory, Northampton, 19th August, 1910. 
To Joseph G. Butler, Jr. 
Dear Sir: — 

The only marriage entry of the Washingtons is that of Amy Washington to 
Philip Curtis, on August 8th, 1620. Amy Washington was a daughter of Robert. 
Laurence Washington was buried on December 15th, 1616, and his name is entered 
in the burial register. The only other Washingtons mentioned in our register are: 

Robert Washington, buried March nth, 1622, and, Elizabeth Washington his 
wife, buried March 25th, of the same year. 

In a church roll, which is in my possession, dated 1606, a pew is assigned on 
the south side to Robert Washington and his wife, and a bench inside for his men- 
servants. 

I am sorry I have no further information to give you respecting the family. 

Yours faithfully, 
William Martin, B. D. 

Rector of Brington. 

THRAPSTON is a small market town, twenty-two miles from 
Northampton; our visit to this place was brief, but the informa- 
tion obtained is of value. 

Sir John Washington lived and was buried in Thrapston. He 
was the uncle of the two Washingtons who emigrated to and 
founded the Washington family in America. 

At the west entrance of the church of St. James', the well 
known coat of arms and crest are carved in stone. The parish 
register contains these records: 

BAPTISM. 

1624— PHILIPPUS WASHINGTON FILIUS 
JOHANN WASHINGTON ARMIGER 
DE THRAPSTON 27 DECEMBRIS. 

1632— ELIZABETHA WASHINGTON, 
FILIA JOHANN WASHINGTON 
(KNIGHT). EQUITIS AURATI 
SEPULTA FRIT DIE JULY 1632. 

1639— GUILIEMUS WASHINGTON GEN- 
EROSUS SELPULTUS ERAT MARTY 
25. 1639 

1668— THE WRIGHT WORSHIPFUL SUR 
JOHN WASHINGTUNN, KNIGHT 
AND BARRENNIT MAY 18. 1668 



A Day in JJ'asJiinirton's Country 83 

We next motored to LITTLE BRINGTON, which contains— 
and which we inspected — a small stone house, known as Washing- 
ton's House. It is regarded as the home of the Washingtons after 
their retirement from Sulgrave. Over the doorway, upon a smooth, 
rectangular-shaped stone, are carved these words: "The Lord giv- 
eth, the Lord taketh away: Blessed be the name of the Lord. Con- 
structa 1606." 

Near this house is a sundial, bearing the Washington arms, and 
"R. W., 1617," probably the initials of Robert Washington, buried 
in Great Brington church chancel. 

We next visited the church of St. Mary's at Sulgrave. This 
is where the Washingtons worshipped, and are buried. At the east 
end of the south aisle is a slab of grey stone, on which were orig- 
inally six brasses, put down as memorials of Laurence Washington 
and his family. Three of the brasses were removed or stolen by 
some unknown vandal and three remain, viz.: 

Laurence Washington's own effigy, a shield of the Washington 
arms, and another containing the following inscription: 

HERE LYETH BURIED YE BODYS OF 
LAURENCE WASHINGTON, GENT. & 
ANNE HIS WYF BY WHOM HE HAD 
ISSUE iiij SONS & ij DAUGHTS WC LAU- 
RENCE DYED YE....DAY....ANO15...& 
ANNE DECEASED THE VJ OF OCTOBER 
ANO DNI 1564. 

It would appear from the inscription that Laurence Washing- 
ton put down the monument after the death of his wife and left a 
blank space for the date of his own death, which occurred in 1584; 
but this has not been added. 

Our final pilgrimage was to the famous SULGRAVE 
MANOR, or, as it is now known, the WASHINGTON MANOR. 
The property is owned by Mr. Rcyncll Peck of Netherton — of 
whom more later on — and is leased to a farmer tenant, whose name 
I did not learn. The manor proper is occupied by the tenant and 



84 A Day in Washington's Country 

a large family. The caretaker is Miss Annia Cave, who apologized 
for her appearance by the statement that "the sweep" had just 
finished his work. Chimney sweeps are still in vogue in some parts 
of England. Notwithstanding her begrimed dress and somewhat 
smutty face, Miss Cave was still a comely lass and proved an inter- 
esting mine of information, beside furnishing for a nominal con- 
sideration some fine photographs. 

The manor of Sulgrave was granted to Laurence Washington 
by Henry Vlll. in 1538, upon dissolution of the monasteries. Evi- 
dently more had been laid out and contemplated than was carried 
out. 

The manor is of stone and the interior is finished solid oak. 
Some of the beams which I measured are two feet thick, and in 
perfect condition. The old oaken stairway is shown in the picture, 
as well as the kitchen. The upper portions are all sleeping 
rooms and in good condition also. The particular room where was 
born Laurence Washington, the great-great-grandfather of Presi- 
dent Washington, was pointed out, and probably the information 
is correct. 

On the lower floor are the remains of a room, evidently a 
private chapel, but now used as a hall. On each side of the wall 
appear carvings, which are illustrated also. The house has a high 
gabled roof, upon the outside of which appear the arms of the 
Washington family. If any doubt exists as to the origin of the 
American flag, this should dispel the suspicion, as it is repeated 
wherever the Washington family are in evidence, and always the 
same. 

There are a number of outhouses of stone and one very large 
barn, which, with the manor, are in fairly good repair, when it is 
considered that no one actuated by any particularly patriotic motive 
is connected with, the property. 

It seems a strange anomaly that the birthplace of the ancestors 
of our first and greatest President, should be in the hands of aliens 
to America, and it at once occurred to me that the property should 






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Gexeai.oi;v of President George Washington. 



A Dav in ff'ashington's Country 85 

be acquired Iv. our p.Unutic sucrucs, put in | i- 

tion and with a. ^ wment fund sufficient to cart 1. u- 

tain it for all time to come, making of it a \ei' iic 

for all patriotic An.crions visiting Europe. 

With this idea in mind, I obtained from Miss ' ! 

dress of the <)v\ • n my return to London ' .c inni as 

to his willingi... .-i^c of the manor. I 1 a most 

courteous reply, ig that he would sell, that the 

estate had been in his family for many generations and he was not 
anxious to dispose of it. 

It is, therefore, my intention to bring the matter (,; a purcna^c 
or lease of the property to the attention of 1 'lurnbcr of our 
patriotic organizations, with the earnest ^vish :l ling definite 

may result therefrom. 

Our very able ambassador iHclaw Ktid, 

is in sympathy with ' ■ ■ :' • - -ss 

to co-operate, and I - i ,n 

securing the estate both by gi 
and by a liberal contribution. 



A Day in JJ'ashington's Country 85 

be acquired by one of our patriotic societies, put in proper condi- 
tion and with an endowment fund sufficient to care for and main- 
tain it for all time to come, making of it a veritable shrine 
for all patriotic Americans visiting Europe. 

Witli this idea in mind, I obtained from Miss Cave, the ad- 
dress of the owner, and upon my return to London, I wrote him as 
to his willingness to dispose of the manor. 1 received a most 
courteous reply, indicating that he would sell, adding that the 
estate had been in his family for many generations and he was not 
anxious to dispose of it. 

It is, therefore, my intention to bring the matter of a purchase 
or lease of the property to the attention of a number of our 
patriotic organizations, with the earnest wish that something definite 
may result therefrom. 

Our very able ambassador in London, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, 
is in sympathy with the suggestion and expressed his willingness 
to co-operate, and 1 shall be glad, in my humble way, to assist in 
securing the estate both by giving the project my personal attention 
and by a liberal contribution. 



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